Dehra Dun: A day after expanding his
Cabinet, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna on Wednesday held
talks with senior Congress leaders in New Delhi to resolve
various issues confronting his government.
"We can only say that Bahuguna has held talks with some
top leaders in New Delhi," a senior Congress leader here said.
Following the expansion, Bahuguna's first task would be
to nominate a new Speaker of the house where Congress is
banking on the support of seven non-BJP MLAs.
The election of the Speaker will be held on March 26, a
day before the first session of the newly-constituted Assembly
begins.
After the election of the Speaker, Bahuguna will have to
face the crucial trust vote on the floor of the House.
In order to make the contest for the election of the
Speaker more intense, BJP is also contemplating a move to
field its own candidate to counter Congress especially after
yesterday's development when Dinesh Dhanai, an independent MLA
from Tehri, was not inducted into the cabinet. Dhanai has now
openly started opposing Bahuguna claiming that he was feeling
cheated.
Another worry before Bahuguna is of continued boycott of
a group of MLAs belonging to Harish Rawat. In yesterday's
swearing in ceremony, some of the 6-7 die-hard MLAs supporting
Rawat were absent.
Bahuguna would also discuss the issue related to another
rebel leader Harak Singh Rawat, who is understood to have
struck a deal with the high command for getting a cabinet
berth, the Congress leaders said.
Congress is yet to decide whether Harak Singh Rawat, who
was the leader of the opposition in the previous Assembly,
would be given the post of Deputy CM. In this regard, the date
of the swearing-in ceremony of Rawat as the 11th Cabinet
minister has not been decided.
On the other hand, it is also not clear whether Dhanai
would be given any plum post after he was ignored as cabinet
minister.
Besides this, Nav Prabhat, a Congress MLA from Vikasnagar
and an N D Tiwari loyalist, is also sulking and he was not
present in the yesterday's function.
Similarly, Kunwar Pranav Singh, an MLA from Khanpur, and
Jaspur MLA Shailendra Mohan Singhal are also upset because
they both were expecting cabinet berths after scoring a
hat-trick this time.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, March 21, 2012, 16:14