Congress Will Form Govt With Comfortable Majority, Says Hooda After Polling Ends

Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Saturday said his party is going to form the government with a comfortable majority and reiterated that the decision on the CM's face will be taken by the high command based on the opinion of the Congress MLAs.

He made these remarks after polling ended and several exit polls predicted the Congress' victory in the Haryana polls.

"We are forming the government with a comfortable majority," the 77-year-old Hooda told reporters at his Rohtak residence.

On several exit polls predicting a Congress victory, the senior Congress leader said, "I have been saying that according to our assessment, we are forming the government with a comfortable majority... I have been saying that people have decided to form the Congress government."

On who will be the chief minister if the Congress comes to power, Hooda reiterated that there is a laid-down procedure in the party, according to which "the opinion of the party MLAs will be sought, and the high command will decide."

When asked about Kumari Selja and Randeep Singh Surjewala, who are also aspirants for the CM's post, Hooda said politics is such that one can have aspirations, "but there is a procedure where legislators will give their opinion, and the high command will decide."

On BJP leaders claiming their party will return to power, Hooda quipped, "What else will BJP say? They will come to know once the results are out."

Dubbing the BJP-led government in Haryana as a "non-performing" government, he said corruption and unemployment were at their peak under its dispensation, while every section, including farmers, employees, the poor, laborers, women, and youth, were fed up with this government.

He said this election was about "the achievements of the previous Congress government versus the BJP's failures and non-performance."

From being a state that once ranked number one in terms of per capita income, investment, and various other spheres, the state now tops in unemployment, while the law-and-order situation has deteriorated, and the drug menace has spread its tentacles, Hooda said.

The Congress veteran and two-time former chief minister, who is seeking re-election from Garhi Sampla-Kiloi in Rohtak district, had told reporters before casting his vote in village Sanghi in the morning that the Congress will form the government, and people have made up their minds to bring the party back to power.

There is a lot of enthusiasm among the people, he said. This government is a "failure," and people have decided to oust them, he added.

"BJP ja rahi hai, Congress aa rahi hai" (BJP is on its way out, while Congress is coming back to power), he said.

Polling for all 90 assembly seats was held on Saturday. The BJP has been in power in Haryana for the last 10 years, and the Congress is eyeing to wrest power this time.