Congress's loss is BJP gainCurbing the election spiritOn a new growth routeHot seat: Med students strike for PG coursesCrime and the Urban city Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda's insistence that his state be made a partner in the proposed Chandigarh International Airport is the latest in a series of assertions. As his government nears completion, Hooda has started taking a tough stand on Haryana's claims with both the Centre and neighbouring Punjab. Ever since he came in power, the soft-spoken chief minister has gradually transformed into an assertive administrator, often sidelining those who did not stick to his line of functioning. The state's bureaucracy is also a bit surprised over the way Hooda had changed in the last three years. He is much more vocal in meetings now, he suspended one senior IAS officer because he didn't attend a meeting called by him and has also removed non-performing officers from plum posts. Punjab got a taste of his new-found attitude when he protested over the exclusion of Haryana from the proposal to build the Integrated Airport at Chandigarh. The airport project may have been proposed by Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal but Hooda dismisses the claim. "What does it mean that Badal made the airport proposal? If I made a proposal for Mohali, will Badal write it in my name?' Many in Punjab's bureaucracy are wondering how an international airport in Punjab would benefit Haryana but Hooda maintains that since the airport would be in Chandigarh, the capital of both Punjab and Haryana, it should have an equal claim to it. Sources close to the chief minister agree that if Hooda had not taken this stand, it would have diluted Haryana's claim on Chandigarh. Earlier Hooda started construction on the Hansi-Butana Link canal, in retaliation to Punjab blocking the construction of the SYL Link canal, despite a favourable court verdict. The 110 km long canal is meant to serve 16 parched districts of Haryana. There are other contentious issues as well. The setting up of the High Court is another of these. The Punjab Government and even the Centre is keen that Haryana get a separate High Court somewhere in its state but Hooda is determined that it be housed in the existing High Court building in Chandigarh. "We have our legitimate claim for a separate high court and Chandigarh is the most ideal location for us to have our high court,' said a senior officer. Apart from these conflicts, Haryana and Punjab have been locked in long-pending water and territorial disputes. But these three issues have seen Hooda put down his foot down. The state bureaucracy is also surprised over the way Hooda has changed in the past three years. He had now been much more vocal in his meetings with them and had suspended one senior IAS officer only because he did not come to attend his meeting. The officer had to apologise before getting back to work.