Vijay Bahuguna takes over as Uttarakhand CM, Rawat boycotts

Mangaloretoday/ NDTV

New Delhi, March 13:  Vijay Bahuguna, Congress MP from Tehri Garhwal, has been sworn in as the chief minister of Uttarakhand despite a revolt by Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Parliamentary Affairs Harish Rawat and his supporters. Bahuguna was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor Margaret Alva in Dehradun on Tuesday evening.

Only 15 Congress MLAs attended the swearing-in ceremony even though the party won 32 seats in the 70-member Uttarakhand Assembly, and has the support of three independent and three Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) legislators.

Rawat and MLAs supporting him did not attend the swearing-in ceremony, indicating that the dissent in the party is unlikely to die soon.

 

 

Earlier, the Congress had made it clear to Rawat that would be sworn in as Uttarakhand chief minister on Tuesday evening.

Congress Sonia Gandhi chaired a meeting of senior party leaders at her residence 10 Janpath in New Delhi on Tuesday following Rawat’s revolt and his offer to quit from the Union Cabinet over the question of Uttarakhand chief ministership. The meeting was attended by Uttarakhand Congress leaders Yashpal Arya, Harak Singh Rawat and Congress in-charge of the state, Ghulam Nabi Azad.

The rebellion by Rawat threatened to delay the swearing-in ceremony. Rawat had offered to resign from the Cabinet and wrote a letter to Sonia Gandhi that he would like to work just as an ordinary worker.

This is the second time that Rawat’s claim has been ignored as almost 10 years ago ND Tiwari was made the chief minister at the last moment by the party leadership.

Rawat, representing Hardwar constituency in the Lok Sabha, was a strong contender for the post.

Hailing from Almora in Uttarakhand, Rawat was elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time in 1980. He served as the president of Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee from 2000 to 2002 and is reportedly upset at being overlooked by the party high command. Rawat claims to have the support of at least 17 MLAs in Uttarakhand Assembly.