Haryana: Hooda gets Sonia’s nod, appointed Congress legislature party chief

Sources told The Indian Express that Hooda, the former chief minister, and Kiran Choudhary, the former CLP leader, had been proposed for the post. Ahead of the polls, Hooda had replaced Choudhary as the CLP leader.

During the meeting, 24 MLAs had backed Hooda while seven had favoured Choudhary.

“It is obvious that Hooda needs to be the CLP leader. Not only due to his seniority and experience but also due to his efforts, which helped the party make a comeback in the state in these polls. Even after the party’s debacle in Lok Sabha polls, it was Hooda who kept the party workers’ morale high. We got more than double the seats that we won in 2014 assembly polls”, one of the MLAs said.

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The Congress has 31 MLAs in the 90-member Haryana legislative Assembly. The BJP, with 40 MLAs, and the support of its ally Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) 10 MLAs, formed the government.