Uttarakhand CM Vijay Bahuguna quits

New Delhi: Himalayan state Uttarakhand is all set to get its seventh chief minister in little over 13 years with chief minister Vijay Bahuguna on Friday resigning from the post.

The 66-year-old retired judge of the Bombay High Court handed over his resignation to the state governor Aziz Qureshi in capital Dehradun following instructions of the central leadership of the Congress party paving the way for election of a new chief minister.

Qureshi has asked Bahuguna to function as caretaker chief minister till his successor take over from him.

“The party high command has asked me to resign. I am resigning from the post. The Congress MLAs will elect the new chief minister tomorrow. I will continue to work for the party,” Bahuguna said in Dehradun.

The party has already instructed its state lawmakers to pass a one-line resolution authorizing party chief Sonia Gandhi to name their new leader, making it clear that the central leadership has already identified Bahuguna’s successor.

Party general secretaries Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ambika Soni and Janardan Dwivedi have been asked to rush to Dehradun to oversee smooth transition of power in the state.

According to sources in the Congress party, federal minister Harish Rawat has emerged the frontrunner though some others names like cabinet ministers in the Bahuguna government Preetam Singh and Indira Hridayesh are also in the contention.

Bahuguna had taken over as the Uttarakhand chief minister in March 2012 after being nominated for the post by the central leadership of the Congress party, though he was a member of parliament at that time as was not seen as a natural leader.

While 17 out of 32 Congress party lawmakers refused to take oath as member of the state assembly initially in protest, led by Rawat who was denied the chief ministership for the second time running despite being seen as a popular and natural leader.

Earlier in 2002, Congress party’s central leadership had opted for Narayan Dutt Tiwari, though the credit for the Congress party’s success in state polls was given to the state unit president Rawat. Questions are being raised now if Rawat would become third time lucky.

Bahuguna failed to deliver efficient administration due to open defiance by his ministers. His stock fell drastically after the devastating June 2013 flash flood in the state that killed thousands.

While the rebels under Rawat’s leadership had been demanding Bahuguna’s ouster, the Congress party’s rout in the recent state polls in five states forced the central leadership to think of giving Bahuguna the marching orders realising a divided party would not be able to perform well in the state during the upcoming general elections see as crucial for the Congress party.