Huda begins job under Bhajan Lal's shadow

Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Huda, at a press conference, outlined curbing lawlessness as the top priority of his government, but it was clear that it was not his capacity that would administer the state but the clout of disgruntled party leader Bhajan Lal, that would determine his continuance.

But on all crucial questions: whether his government will have a deputy chief minister, a job that Bhajan Lal has claimed for his son Chander Mohan as part of the deal to get him to drop his claim to the top job; and Lal's threat that Huda will be the chief minister for just three months - the chief minister made no comment.

He said the Cabinet would decide if there should be a deputy chief minister and added that he intended to remain chief minister for "the full term".

What appeared to be in Huda's favour was the consolidation of the anti-Lal feeling among MPs and MLAs alike. The day he was declared chief minister, a series of SMS made their way to the cell phones of Haryana MPs other than Lal's son Kuldeep Bishnoi.

It read : "Bhajan Lal is not CM...yippee." It was not a cheer for Huda. It was celebration that Lal was outmanoeuvred by a phalanx of Congressmen.

Janardan Dwivedi, party in charge of Haryana, was initially not opposed to Lal. Indeed, Lal nominees got so many tickets that he was able to stake a claim to the top post on that basis. Other stalwarts of the state Congress like Huda, Birender Singh, Kumari Selja and industrialist OP Jindal were upset by this but could do nothing about it.

"The situation changed when Sonia Gandhi's political secretary Ahmad Patel entered the picture. He was supporting Huda as it benefited his old favourite Ashok Gehlot, former Rajasthan chief minister," said a top party source.

Gehlot had lost Rajasthan mainly because Jats have been traditionally anti-Congress. But if they were to be won over, some long-term planning was necessary. Huda fitted in this scheme of things better than Lal.

Patel then got Gehlot and PM Sayeed appointed observers for the Congress legislature party meeting. "One of the first things Gehlot did was to convince Dwivedi and Gandhi that the opinion of the nine Haryana MPs was important," a source said. Six out of the nine wrote to Gandhi against appointing Lal.

Huda is in place thanks to central support.

Lal hit back emphasising he had the support of nearly 40 out of the 67 MLAs""a tactical error with Gandhi, who does not appreciate strong-arm tactics. She wanted Selja, a Dalit, to be appointed chief minister. Patel convinced Gandhi that the goodwill that the Congress had garnered from the Jat community would disappear overnight if a Jat deputy were to serve under a Dalit chief minister.

Huda is in place thanks to central support. How quickly he can consolidate the administration will decide how long he will stay chief minister. For, Bhajan Lal may be down but he is not out.

Huda indicated that he was going for a total makeover of Haryana. Eradication of corruption, an efficient and responsive administration, and the implementation of employment-generating schemes would be his government's focus, he told bureaucrats at his maiden meeting with them.

"I do not want to go into history and aspirations of five years ago," he said, setting a six-month deadline for development results. "Only the change of face will not help the masses. The system has to change," he said at his first press conference.