The Congress, which ended up six seats short of a simple majority in the 90-member Haryana assembly, will meet Governor Jagannath Pahadia in Chandigarh on Friday to stake claim to form the government. "We are going to meet the governor shortly with letters of support from independent candidates and stake our claim," said Pradesh Congress Committee chief Phool Chand Mullana. When queried about how many independents were supporting the Congress, he said, "All of them."
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and several of his ministers and Pradesh Congress Committee chief Phool Chand Mullana figure in the list of 68 Congress candidates for the October 13 assembly polls, which was released by the party on Wednesday. While Hooda will contest from Garhi Sampla-Kiloi seat, Mullana has been re-nominated from Mulana. Randeep Singh Surjewala, a minister, has been shifted to Kaithal from Narwana that has become a reserved seat.
Rahul Gandhi has set out to revamp the Congress party after the recent drubbing it received in the assembly elections. Renu Mittal reports
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi has called a meeting of chief ministers of 12 Congress-ruled states to figure out how to fill out the vacancies in the Rajya Sabha. Highly-placed sources have said that he wants to cajole Amethis's former feudal lord Sanjay Singh; by giving him an RS ticket, in view of his own weak position in Amethi. Renu Mittal reports.
