The next BJP government in Uttarakhand is determined to settle the issue of the state’s capital, on whether it would continue to be in Dehradun or would be shifted to the hills, but planned to go about it cautiously in view of the sentimental issues involved. The priority for the new government would also be to establish the state’s infrastructure, among which would be a road network, said B.C. Khanduri whose nomination as chief minister will be formally announced later this week in the state capital following a meeting of BJP MLAs.Khanduri said the question of a state capital was a complex one, and the outgoing Congress government had not attempted to address it. “The issue of the state’s capital is a sentimental and complicated issue, but we have to find a solution to it. There are also administrative issues involved, as the state capital has to be easily accessible,” Khanduri told The Indian Express.He plans to have discussions with political parties and people at large on the issue and will be guided by the recommendations of the commission for the selection of a new site for the state capital headed by Justice Virendra Dixit. “A capital city has to be suitable from all aspects, like soil quality, and we will take into account technical reports. A general consensus must be arrived at on a permanent capital because it will involve huge costs,” Khanduri said.The BJP leader, who is now a Lok Sabha MP, said the state’s infrastructure was in a shambles. Money had not been properly spent on building infrastructure. “There was rampant corruption as a result of which, despite the special status that Uttarakhand has, we will have a deficit of Rs 16,000 crore in the next budget. We have to bring the entire administrative machinery on the rails,” he said.With his own nomination as chief minister to be announced soon, Khanduri insisted there were no differences with Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, another BJP stalwart from the state. “Koshiyari and I traveled together for 28 days during the elections,” he said. Koshiyari is now tipped to be deputy chief minister, a way out devised by the BJP parliamentary board at its meeting on Tuesday evening in an effort to accommodate the leader.
