No move to replace me: Hooda

, Jun 22: Haryana Chief Minister

today said there was no move by the Congress party to replace him and he would continue to serve the state as CM as long as he enjoyed the blessings of

.

"As long as I have the blessings of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, support of party MLAs and trust of the people, I will continue to serve the state as Chief Minister," Hooda told reporters at Ballabgarh.

There was no move by the party to replace him, he said a day after the Congress ruled out a change of guard in the state. AICC general secretary, in-charge of party affairs in Haryana, Shakeel Ahmed said yesterday that "the change of leadership either at the PCC level or CLP level in the state is not under consideration."

Asked about his meeting with Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi yesterday, Hooda said he had been meeting her on "issues of development relating to the state." On his detractors Birender Singh and Selja criticising him over his style of functioning, the Chief Minister said "there may be differences of opinion in the party" but this was not a major issue. With assembly polls in Haryana slated for later this year, Hooda said he favoured giving 50 per cent of party tickets to youths.

Exuding confidence about the Congress forming government in the state for the third time in a row, he said the outcome of upcoming assembly polls would be different from that of Lok Sabha elections. "The BJP contested the last Lok Sabha elections on the basis of an individual and not on the basis of any policy or programme," he said. In the recent Lok Sabha polls, Congress bagged only one seat out of 10 in Haryana. The party had won nine seats in 2009.

PTI