The Hindu : Front Page : Chavan, Hooda retained as Chief Ministers

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Sunday, Oct 25, 2009
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Chavan, Hooda retained as Chief Ministers

Anita Joshua

Ashok Chavan

NEW DELHI: Shortly past midnight on Saturday night, the Congress announced that incumbents Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Ashok Chavan would continue as Chief Ministers of Haryana and Maharashtra.

The announcement came after a series of meetings through the day — the last round at Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s residence — in the two State capitals and here.

This ended the 48-hour-long uncertainty that had prevailed over the Chief Ministership issue since the results of the Assembly elections put the ball in the Congress court in Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh.

The Haryana Chief Ministership was the most vexed issue as the poor showing by the party had Mr. Hooda’s detractors gunning for him. The day was marked by a series of meetings of Haryana leaders in Delhi. While the warring groups within the Congress met among themselves to strategise, the three-member team of central observers held two rounds of meetings with senior leaders from the State.

Bhupinder Singh Hooda

In the morning, party observers Mohsina Kidwai, B. K. Hariprasad and Prithviraj Chavan met all MPs from Haryana to seek their views.

Even as the central leadership was wrestling with the Chief Ministership issue in Haryana — with the observers having a late night meeting with Ms. Gandhi — the entire senior leadership of Maharashtra arrived in Delhi.

Along with the Maharashtra observers, the Chief Minister and other hopefuls — Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and Narayan Rane — were closeted with Ms. Gandhi till midnight in a bid to evolve consensus.

CLP resolution

Special Correspondent writes from Mumbai:

Earlier in the day, the Congress Legislature Party passed a one-line resolution authorising Ms. Gandhi to elect a new leader.

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