Bahuguna sworn in as Uttarakhand Chief Minister

Bahuguna sworn in as Uttarakhand Chief Minister

Congress MP Vijay Bahuguna was sworn in as CM of Uttarakhand on Tuesday after the Congress overruled a revolt by another MP Harish Rawat, who is said to have offered to resign from the Union govt.

65-year-old Bahuguna, son of late Congress leader Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna, was the lone minister to take the oath of office and secrecy at a brief ceremony at the Parade Ground in Dehradun on Tuesday.

Governor Margaret Alva administered the oath at the function which was attended by former Chief Minister N D Tiwari, central Congress observers Ghulam Nabi Azad, Birender Singh, party MP Satpal Maharaj, PCC chief Yashpal Arya, and Bahuguna's sister Rita Bahuguna Joshi.

Only 11 out of the 32 Congress MLAs were present besides three independent MLAs -- Mantri Prasad Netani, Harish Durgapal and Dinesh Tanhai -- and Uttarakhand Kranti Dal MLA Pritam Singh Panwar.

Prominent Congress leaders Harak Singh Rawat and Indra Hridayesh, who were themselves aspirants for the Chief Minister's post, were conspicuous by their absence as were Harish Rawat's supporters.

The Congress, which won 32 seats in the 70-member Assembly, one more than BJP's 31, has managed to get the support of three independents and an equal number of BSP MLAs and that of UKD(K) MLA.

The swearing-in ceremony took place even as sulking Rawat and his supporters were closeted at his residence in Delhi and were deliberating their next strategy after the High Command rejected the Union Minister's demand that he be made the Chief Minister.

Rawat, a Rajput leader who was elected to Lok Sabha first in 1980 defeating BJP's Murli Manohar Joshi, was pipped to the post in the race for Chief Ministership when Sonia Gandhi chose Bahuguna, a Brahmin, for the post.

Since then, Rawat, Minister of State for Agriculture and Parliamentary Affairs, had been upset and had made it plain to the party that he has been overlooked a second time after N D Tiwari was preferred over him ten years ago.

As the revolt raged, there was uncertainty whether the party would have a rethink. But AICC general secretary Janardan Dwivedi ruled out any change of Chief Minister nominee.

"Senior leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Birendera Singh have left for Dehradun as central observers and the swearing in of Bahuguna as Chief Minister is being held as scheduled," he said on Tuesday.