Follow Us
Geetanjali Gayatri
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, October 21
Ahead of the Assembly session of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha and the meeting of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) on October 23, former Chief Minister and MLA Bhupinder Singh Hooda has called a meeting of party legislators at his residence here tomorrow to finalise the Congress strategy to take on the BJP government.
Sources said the scrapping of the Dadupur-Nalvi canal project, Panchkula violence following the dera verdict, setting up of a toll barrier near Murthal and the controversy around the murder of a student in Gurguram’s Ryan International School are among the issues that are likely to make the session stormy.
They said Hooda, along with legislators owing allegiance to him, is also planning to use the opportunity of the Assembly session to organise a photo exhibition to mark three years of the BJP’s “misrule” in the state. According to information, the Hooda faction has decided to “expose” the misdeeds of the BJP, which completes three years in power on October 26, through photographs likely to be displayed in the MLA Hostel or as banners atop vehicles of the party MLAs.
With most of the 17 MLAs backing Hooda, he has already announced that the Dadupur-Nalvi canal issue will be raised in the House. Sources in the party said since the state party unit did not effectively take up the issues of aggrieved farmers, it is for Hooda to take these up in the Assembly.
In a divided Congress, Hooda usually holds his own meeting of MLAs owing allegiance to him as a show of strength before Kiran Choudhary calls a CLP meeting. With the party strategy already finalised at Hooda’s meeting, the MLAs skip the CLP leader’s meeting. “The meeting is scheduled for the morning of October 23, where the party strategy will be given the final shape,” Kiran said.
Initially, Kiran, after her appointment as CLP leader, had invited the party general secretary for a meeting to ensure the presence of the legislators belonging to the Hooda faction. In three years, most of the MLAs belonging to the Hooda faction have skipped the CLP meeting on one pretext or another. At the last meeting, most of them chose not to show up since they did not want to meet at the Pradesh Congress Committee office in the presence of PCC president Ashok Tanwar.
“The former Chief Minister has already announced that the House will function only when the Dadupur-Nalvi issue is resolved. We will plan our moves accordingly at tomorrow’s meeting. However, one thing is certain. The government will have a lot of answering to do and the session, no matter how short, will be a stormy affair,” said Kuldeep Sharma, Congress MLA and former Speaker.
CLP meeting on October 23
In a divided Congress, Hooda usually holds his own meeting of MLAs owing allegiance to him as a show of strength before Kiran Choudhary calls a CLP meeting. With the party strategy already finalised at Hooda’s meeting, the MLAs skip the CLP leader’s meeting.
3
4
9