Chandigarh, Oct 25 (IANS) Bhupinder Singh Hooda will take oath as chief minister of Haryana for a second time Sunday.
Hooda’s name was announced early Sunday by the Congress high command in New Delhi following two days of suspense over the Haryana leadership issue.

The oath-taking ceremony will take place at the Haryana Raj Bhavan here at 4 p.m., state government officials said Sunday.

Party president Sonia Gandhi was authorised by the Congress Legislature Party (CLP), which met in Chandigarh Friday, to name the next chief minister.

Though caretaker Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s name continued to be in the front, there was also a speculation about the Congress MP from Ambala and Union Minister for Tourism Kumari Selja running for the post.

Finally, Hooda, a Jat community leader from Rohtak district who first became chief minister March 2005, was named to head the Congress government in Haryana again.

Earlier Saturday, Hooda was called to New Delhi for a meeting with Congress MPs from the state and senior Congress leaders. Party sources said that some leaders wanted the high command to name a non-Jat chief minister.

The Congress in Haryana had Friday staked claim before Governor Jagannath Pahadia after it got the support of all seven independent candidates who won the Oct 13 assembly election. The Congress bagged 40 seats in the 90-member assembly and fell six seats short of a simple majority in the house.

Hooda had led the party government in the state since March 2005 and had got the previous assembly dissolved seven months ahead of schedule to seek early assembly poll. The Congress wanted to cash on its nine seats out of 10 success in the May Lok Sabha poll.

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