BAHUGUNA SWORN IN AS CONGRESS CHIEF MINISTER

BAHUGUNA SWORN IN AS

CHIEF MINISTER

Congress MP Vijay Bahuguna was on Tuesday,13^th March,2012, sworn in as Chief Minister of Uttarakhand after the Congress overruled a revolt by another MP Harish Rawat, who is said to have offered to resign from the Union government.  The 65-year-old Mr. 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 Dehra Dun.

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 the Bharatiya Janata Party’s 31, has managed to get the support of three independents and an equal number of BSP MLAs and that of UKD(K) MLA. But the revolt by Mr. Harish Rawat, who is said to have a sizable number of supporters among the MLAs, came as a surprise to the party leadership. Upset over the party decision, Mr. Harish Rawat reportedly sent a letter to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi offering to resign. His supporters claimed in the capital that he has resigned but Mr. Harish Rawat himself declined to confirm or deny.

The swearing-in ceremony took place even as Mr. Harish 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. Mr. Harish Rawat, who was elected to the Lok Sabha first in 1980 defeating the BJP’s Murli Manohar Joshi, was pipped to the post in the race for Chief Ministership when Sonia Gandhi chose Mr. Bahuguna for the post. Since then, Mr. Harish 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 Mr. Tiwari was preferred over him 10 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. Even as Mr. Bahuguna was taking oath, Pradeep Tamta, a Congress MP and close aide of Mr. Harish Rawat, breathed fire outside the latter's residence in Delhi saying they would refuse to accept Bahuguna as their leader because he worked against the party during the elections. The party high command had played game with Mr. Harish Rawat earlier which has been repeated again. “At that time we accepted it because it was Tiwari who was big in stature. This time we will not not accept,” he said.

Asked about the number of MLAs supporting Mr, Harish Rawat and what will be their strategy during confidence vote, Mr. Tamta said they would disclose the strategy at the right time. Queried whether their group has the support of 17 MLAs, he said, “We have that much and more than that. We will let you know the number as and when it is required.” He denied reports that Mr. Harish Rawat had either met or spoken to BJP president Nitin Gadkari or any other BJP leaders. Mr. Bahuguna, a former High Court judge-turned politician, has a tough task on hand to keep the flock in faction-ridden Congress in Uttarakhand together and rein in his detractors.

Politics is in the blood of 65-year-old Mr. Bahuguna since he is the son of former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna. A cousin of outgoing BJP Chief Minister B.C. Khanduri, the second-term Lok Sabha MP representing Tehri Garhwal, is the brother of U.P. Congress Committee chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi. Born on February 28, 1947 in Allahabad, Mr. Bahuguna practised as a lawyer before becoming a judge in the Allahabad High Court and later the Bombay High Court. Mr. Bahuguna, who is currently vice-president of the Uttarakhand unit of the Congress, quit as a judge and joined politics under the tutelage of his father. He was also the vice-chairman of the State Planning Commission during the earlier Congress regime.

                                                        Prof. John Kurakar