Chandigarh: Haryana Governor Jaganath Pahadia has directed Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who was sworn in as the state Chief Minister for his second successive term, to prove his majority on the floor of the state Assembly within a week.
Speaking to reporters after being sworn-in by Pahadia on Monday evening, Hooda told reporters that he has been given a week's time by the Governor to prove majority in the House.
"We will be calling the Assembly session shortly. After the trial of strength we will constitute the Council of Ministers," Hooda added.
Hooda has taken over as Chief Minister with the "unconditional" support of the seven newly elected Independents and the lone BSP member after the party fell short of the simple majority by six seats in the 90-member state Assembly.
The Congress finished with a tally of 40 and staked the claim to form the government after the seven Independents extended support to it. The BSP member from Jagadhari Akram Khan on Monday extended support to the Congress, Hooda told reporters after the swearing-in ceremony.
Sixty-two-year-old Hooda, who was chosen by the Congress President Sonia Gandhi late last night as the CLP leader, was administered the oath of office and secrecy by the Governor at the Raj Bhawan on Monday evening.
Asked if the Independents supporting the Congress will be rewarded with ministerial berths, he said, it was a "hypothetical question and time will tell".
To a question, he said the Haryana Janhit Congress (BL) was once part of "Congress parivar (family) and our party will welcome if they give unconditional support to us".
The HJC led by former Congress MP Kuldeep Bishnoi has won six seats.
Listing out priorities of the new regime, Hooda said "it will be our endeavour to complete the power projects because power is an important wheel in any state's development. We also want to make Haryana a hub of education so that future of our students is bright besides our priority will be to implement all the poll promises we have made to have overall development".
The Congress, which went down from 67 seats it had won in 2005 to 40 in 2009 assembly elections, would also be analysing the reasons behind the poor performance, Hooda said.
"Though Congress emerged as the single largest party, but the number of seats we got are much below our expectations. We will be analysing where we went wrong and try to rectify the shortcomings and try to serve the people the best we can," he said.
Pitching for status quo, Sonia Gandhi last night chose Hooda as head of the Congress Legislature Party, after several rounds of consultations with senior party leaders.
Hooda took the oath of office and secrecy in Hindi.
Among those present included the three Congress observers Prithvi Raj Chavan, Mohisina Kidwai and B K Hariparsad.
Hooda's mother Hardei Devi, wife Asha Hooda, son Deepinder, a number of MLAs and MPs, party workers and senior officers of the state were present on the occasion.
He has set a record by getting elected from Garhi Sampla-Kiloi Assembly constituency in the state with a record margin of 72,100 votes - the highest by any winner in the recent election to the 90- member state Assembly.
The Congress emerged as the single largest party bagging 40 seats in the 90-member House, but cobbled a majority after securing "unconditional" support of seven independents.
The INLD, led by Om Prakash Chautala, finished second garnering 31 seats as the October 13 Assembly election threw up a hung House.
The Haryana Janhit Congress-BL won six seats, the BJP four and the BSP and the SAD one each.
Buoyed by the thumping win of the Congress in April-May Lok Sabha polls when the party won nine out of 10 seats, the Hooda government went in for the Assembly election seven months before schedule.
With Hooda back at the helm, the veteran Jat leader had joined the club of six Chief Ministers who had held the post more than once since the formation of the state in 1966.
Bansi Lal (four times), Banarsi Das Gupta (twice), Devi Lal (twice), Bhajan Lal (thrice) and Om Parkash Chautala (five times including two terms of less than a fortnight) are the other five.
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