Bajan Lal being 'sidelined' by MLAs

By Our Special Correspondent

CHANDIGARH, AUG. 20. The president of the Haryana unit of Congress(I), Mr. Bhupinder Singh Hooda, MLA, is in an upbeat mood and is hopeful of continuing as the next president in the ensuing organisational polls as his political bete noir and former Chief Minister, Mr. Bhajan Lal, who is also the leader of the Congress Legislature Party, is being largely `sidelined' by the party MLAs.

The ongoing tussle between Mr. Hooda and Mr. Bhajan Lal for `supremacy ' in the party unit, which had at one stage virtually divided the 21 MLAs, has taken a new twist. Some of the MLAs who had initially been carried away by the lure of Cabinet posts in Mr. Bhajan Lal's `unique' shadow cabinet are now openly dubbing the concept as `grandiose and impractical.' They vocally express their views on the point of anonymity that Mr. Hooda's stand to keep away from the so-called `shadow cabinet' was practically correct as Mr. Bhajan Lal, who wrested the prestigious post of leader through ``manipulations'', had made the party a laughing stock in the State.

Another MLA told this correspondent that the shadow cabinet had so far failed to take off the ground. Barring a press conference or two addressed by the former Chief Minister a coupler of months ago, the shadow cabinet and its `members' had so far remained elusive and have never criticised the Om Prakash Chautala regime in the State on several fronts. The shadow cabinet has not issued any statement condemning the hikes in several rates, the imposition of several `draconian' taxes and the deteriorating law and order situation to mention a few.

On the other hand, Mr. Hooda had been regularly coming out with statements criticizing the INLD-BJP set-up and its `anti-people' policies. He had also led several demonstrations all over the State which were interestingly `boycotted' by the former Chief Minister and his supporters. Mr. Hooda had also met the Governor twice and sought his intervention on several matters of public interest.

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