HOODA’S SHAKTI PRADARSHAN

The Hoodas from Haryana—former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and son Deepender—had their annual Lohri lunch in the national capital, which was well attended by Congress leaders cutting across all factions, with Ahmed Patel, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ashok Gehlot, V. Narayansamy, Janardhan Dwivedi, Anand Sharma, P. Chidambaram, Kumari Selja, Randeep Surjewala, Madhu Goud Yaskhi, Jitin Prasada, Rajiv Shukla, Shashi Tharoor, Prithviraj Chavan and Sandeep Dikshit present there. UPA allies Praful Patel, Sharad Yadav, Ajit Singh and Jayant Chaudhury were also there. But what was interesting was the attendance of as many as 29 of the 31 Congress MLAS from Haryana. Quite naturally, the talk turned to what might have been had the Hoodas been given more time to campaign, for as an MLA pointed out, the total difference in the number of votes won by the BJP and the Congress was not much, though the BJP’S total tally was 40 seats. Although the BJP has formed the government in alliance with the JJP, some of Dushyant Chauthala’s MLAS have recently gone public with their displeasure. Given this, one wonders if the presence of 29 MLAS on his front lawns was not a subtle muscle flexing by the Hoodas—both to the Opposition outside, and within. And so speculation keeps the fires burning well after Lohri. (Note: technically, it was not the Hooda’s front lawns but Raj Babbar’s bungalow that hosted the said party. And who knows the power of show-and-tell better than a Bollywood veteran?)