Over dinner,Hooda,Capt to ‘teach’ MLAs how to vote in Prez poll

They may not agree on river water sharing and many more issues,but Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda was quick to extend an invitation to host a joint dinner for Congress MLAs of Punjab and Haryana at a hotel owned by former Congress minister Venod Sharma.

However,Punjab Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh politely turned down the offer,preferring to go solo. So,the 46 Punjab Congress MLAs will wine and dine together at Hotel Mountview on Wednesday evening,the same time when their Haryana counterparts will enjoy the unusual hospitality of Hooda.

The official reason cited by Punjab Congress is teaching MLAs how to cast their vote. “We have also issued detailed circulars to all MLAs on how to cast the vote. The dinner has been organised to sit together informally to brief the MLAs,” PPCC senior vice-president Laal Singh said.

On Hooda’s offer for joint dinner,he said the invitation had come from Haryana but it was decided that the dinner should be held separately for the two states.

However,according to sources within Congress,the dinner diplomacy by the two states is to ensure attendance of all party MLAs in respective Vidhan Sabhas on the day of the polling.

“Each head will count for the Presidential poll. Even if one MLA does not come to cast his vote,the state president can be asked to explain his failure to ensure full attendance. So,it is more of a headcount a night before the July 19 polling,” a PPCC office-bearer said.

Amarinder’s detractors within the party have their own viewpoint to offer. “It is more an attempt to show solidarity of party MLAs for the beleaguered chief than briefing session for Presidential polls. Many MLAs have raised a banner of revolt against Amarinder’s leadership after the Assembly poll debacle. It has been followed by the party’s poor show at the civic polls and the recent Dasuya bypoll. So,those representing different factions within the party are most likely to abstain from the dinner,” a party MLA said.

With so much “cooking” before the dinner,Congress can only hope that MLAs have an appetite for more.