Star-studded swearing in for CM Khanduri

After being ousted from power in Uttarakhand, the Congress is being choosy about who it nominates as Leader of the Opposition.

After being ousted from power in Uttarakhand, the Congress is being choosy about who it nominates as Leader of the Opposition. With half a dozen senior Congress leaders returning to the House, the task of choosing a new leader has been made difficult for the party with a number of newly-elected legislators lobbying for the post. Various factions within the party have also been vying for the Leader of the Opposition’s chair.

However, according to party sources, the Congress is likely to propose the name of a retired General to take on Maj Gen B C Khanduri, the Chief Minister of the state. The name doing the rounds in this regard is that of Lt Gen TPS Rawat (retd), who was Minister of Tourism and Excise in the outgoing Tiwari ministry.

Since the BJP has decided to give the reigns of the state to a retired General, the Congress also proposes to bank on its own retired General.

S.M.A. KAZMI

Dehra Dun, March 8

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MAJOR General (retd) Bhuvan Chander Khanduri was today sworn in as the fourth Chief Minister of Uttarakhand by Governor Sudarshan Aggarwal at a ceremony held at the Parade grounds here. Along with Khanduri, former Speaker Parkash Pant was also administered the oath of office and secrecy as a cabinet minister.

BJP president Rajnath Singh, who attended the ceremony, later told reporters that Khanduri would expand his council of ministers after getting a vote of confidence on the floor of the state Assembly.

BJP has emerged as the single largest party in the hill state with 34 seats out of the 69 constituencies which went to polls. Uttarkhand has a 70-member Assembly. Two Independents and the three-member Uttarakhand Kranti Dal, a regional party, who are supporting the BJP government, are also hopeful of getting ministerial berths.

By choosing Pant, BJP has tried to balance the regional aspirations. The former Speaker belongs to the Kumoan region, while Khanduri is from Garhwal. Both Khanduri and Pant are Brahmins and Brahmins and Rajputs are the two dominant castes in the hill state.

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In a bid to placate state BJP chief and former CM Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, Rajnath announced that Koshiyari would head the coordination committee which has Khanduri as a member. “We have such coordination committees in all BJP ruled states. Both these leaders in consultation will choose other members of the committee,” he said.

A large number of BJP leaders, including former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Murli Manohar Joshi, KC Pant, Sahib Singh Verma, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, Ravi Shankar Parsad, and actor Hema Malini were present on the occasion. National Democratic Alliance convenor George Fernandes, Akali leaders Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa and Capt Kanwaljit Singh, and former CM ND Tiwari also attended the swearing-in ceremony. A large number of sants from Hardwar and Rishikesh were also present to bless the CM.

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