Consensus eludes Uttaranchal

LUCKNOW, Sept 19: Uttar Pradesh Cabinet failed to evolve a consensus on the inclusion of Hardwar and Udham Singh Nagar in the proposed Uttaranchal State as its marathon meeting to finalise the resolution on creation of the hill state remained inconclusive tonight.

State Chief Minister Kalyan Singh, who presided over the first round of talks, said the Cabinet would meet again later in the night to discuss the issue 8220;threadbare8221;. Meanwhile, sources in Chief Minister8217;s secretariat informed that any final decision on the issue was unlikely tonight, though consensus seemed to be emerging on dropping Hardwar from the proposed State.

The issue of the inclusion of Hardwar and Udham Singh Nagar in Uttaranchal has been hanging fire with some coalition partners of the BJP-led State government, demanding their exclusion from the Draft Bill sent by the Centre.