Congress leader Vijay Bahuguna was sworn in as Uttarakhand chief minister this evening, despite deep discontent within the state party unit over the choice of Bahuguna over a “more deserving” Harish Rawat. Several MLAs boycotted the swearing-in ceremony.
A sulking Rawat had in the past 24 hours even attempted to break away from the Congress and made overtures towards the BJP, but his efforts came to naught. Rawat who is at present MoS for Agriculture and Parliamentary Affairs had reportedly even offered to quit from the Union Cabinet.
Significantly, PCC chief Yashpal Arya, who was also a contender for the post of chief minister, joined the function along with two-three supporting MLAs.
The choice of Bahuguna as chief minister came as a blow to Rawat, the long-standing face of the Congress in the state. Trouble started brewing late last night, when legislators loyal to Rawat gathered at his residence to lodge their protest against the move. Despite such overtures, the Congress high command today ruled out a rethink of the chief ministerial candidate.
Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari on Tuesday said, “Harish Rawat is a long-standing leader of the Congress and has worked his way up from his days in the student wing of the party. He has legitimate expectations and when these are not met, there can be a sense of disappointment. But in the larger interests of the party and the people of Uttarakhand, his personal feelings need to be surmounted.”
Faced with a faction-ridden state unit, with split between Indira Hridayesh (a loyalist of ND Tewari) and the Harish Rawat faction, Bahuguna appeared to be a safe bet, according to the party. Hence, despite the clamour for a rethink, the Congress had gone ahead with his swearing-in, which was boycotted by Rawat and attended by only 11 out of the 32 Congress MLAs.
BJP, however, dismissed reports of a late night meeting between party president Nitin Gadkari and Rawat. BJP spokesperson, Nirmala Sitharaman, said, “There was no meeting between our party president and Harish Rawat.” Party insiders said that Gadkari had spoken to Rawat and on sensing that the latter did not enjoy the support of more than a handful (8-9 MLAs), the BJP chose not to play a role in splitting the Congress. The Karnataka experience had taught the BJP the dangers of too many factions and chief ministerial aspirants.
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.
Bahuguna, 65, is a retired Bombay High Court judge.
