CHANDIGARH, Jan 19: In a significant development, nine of the 12 Haryana Congress MLAs held an informal meeting on Tuesday and decided to seek coordination with other like-minded parties and MLAs "in order to throw this (Bansi Lal) government out of office in this very session". The statement, which comes within two days of the Haryana Congress Chief Bhupinder Singh Hooda stating that the Congress would not solicit the support of other parties for throwing out the Bansi Lal government, amounts to a virtual challenge to the line adopted by Hooda.
Significantly, nine MLAs who attended the meeting include Birender Singh and Chander Mohan, son of former chief minister Bhajan Lal.
This is the first time that a majority of Congress MLAs (nine out of 12) have openly and collectively indicated their desire to oust the ruling government. The winter session of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha will begin on January 28.