Rift-ridden Uttarakhand BJP hones in on Khanduri

Former Union Minister BC Khanduri was today elected leader of the BJP legislature Party in Uttarakhand amid high drama and confusion.

The meeting, which began at 3:30 pm, continued for nearly six hours during which Khanduri faced opposition from the faction led by BJP state chief Bhagat Singh Koshiyari.

After much persuasion and deliberations, the central observers "" OP Mathur and Gopi Nath Munde and party in-charge Ravishanker Prasad were able to persuade Koshiyari to accept the choice of the party high command.

Koshiyari, who has the dubious distinction of creating unsavoury scenes in the party, remained adamant and opposed Khanduri for not having the support of majority of MLAs, who come from Kumaon region.

Being a Kumaoni, Koshiyari is understood to have banked on the support of the MLAs belonging to his region. On the other hand, Khanduri, who comes from Garhwal region, failed to bring enough number despite his projection as the chief campaigner of the party.

Earlier, ruling out unconditional support to BJP, the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) today said it would extend only issue-based support to the saffron party.

Emerging after the meeting of top party functionaries including all its three MLAs, UKD President BD Raturi said his party would extend support only if BJP implements all its issues which formed the basis of its election manifesto.

These issues include the contentious shifting of permanent capital to Gairsain in Chamoli district, Raturi said."We will share power with BJP only if all our issues are implemented," said Raturi adding otherwise in case of partial implementation of these issues, UKD would extend support from outside.

Raturi also made it clear that UKD would sit in opposition or join hands with other parties in case its issues were ignored.

For this purpose, UKD also formed an 11-member committee headed by Raturi to hold talks with BJP on all these issues. Presently, BJP is one short of majority in the House after getting 34 seats.