Saturday, March 5 2005 12:47 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Veteran Haryana Congress leader Bhajan Lal today (Mar 5, 2005) made peace with the party high command, conceding that his fight for the Chief Minister's post was over and he would extend full cooperation to Bhupender Singh Hooda, the new Chief Minister.

"I kept up pressure till the end. Any fight can be fought up to a limit, and in any contest, one of the two was bound to get humbled," he told reporters, making a somersault from his yesterday's (Mar 4, 2005) rebellious mood, which resulted in the boycott by him and his supporting MLAs of the Congress Legislative Party (CLP) meeting.

He said that the high command has "rejected" his resignation as Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president given in a huff over the election of Hooda. He said that Congress president Sonia Gandhi has told him that the PCC chief's post was bigger than that of the Chief Minister.

Giving indications of 'letting bygones be bygones' after Hooda called on him this morning to "seek his blessings", Lal said that there was no question of him leaving the Congress or weakening it.

"Has anyone beaten up my father?" he retorted when asked whether his grievances with the party high command were over.

"A child cries when it wants something" was the way in which he tried to justify the boycott and subsequent resignation.

Asked if he would accept a berth in the Union Cabinet, he said, "I will abide by the decision of the High Command." To a query whether his son Chandra Mohan was being made Deputy Chief Minister, he said he has no information, but insisted that his supporters should join the Ministry to help it function smoothly.