Former finance minister Sampat Singh quit the INLD last month. Most of those leaving the INLD are joining the Congress.

Hooda insists that these leaders are joining the Congress 'without conditions'. Some Congress leaders are however upset that 'outsiders' have been accommodated in the party.

In the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress led in 60 assembly seats while the INLD was ahead only in five seats. The Bharatiya Janata Party (an INLD ally), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Haryana Janhit Congress of former chief minister Bhajan Lal were in the lead in other seats.

Opposition leaders, including Chautala and Bhajan Lal, look disheartened.That allows Hooda to be magnanimous: 'I don't work with vengeance. I don't believe in taking revenge.'

Will he be the chief minister again? It is for the party to decide, he said. 'Everyone has the potential (to be chief minister).'

Hooda attributes the popularity of his government to development work done for the people of Haryana.

'I assumed office with inherent problems. On the power front, we are adding four new power plants with a capacity of 5,000 MW. In the last 40 years (Haryana was created in 1966), no power plant was added. In two years, we will be in a position to generate surplus power,' he asserted.

Haryana is also seeking a nuclear power plant.

Denying that only that part of Haryana which falls in the National Capital Region (NCR) around Delhi was getting preference for industrial investments, Hooda said that 70 backward blocks had been identified across the state for industrial development.

The government had launched initiatives in education, technology, social welfare and other fields too, he said.

(Jaideep Sarin can be contacted at jaideep.s@ians.in)