Harish Rawat survives no-trust vote

Dehradun: The fledgling Harish Rawat government in Uttarakhand on Tuesday survived the opposition sponsored no-trust motion as it was defeated on the floor of the House.

After holding a marathon six-hour debate on the no-confidence motion moved by the leader of Opposition Ajay Bhatt, Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal put it to secret voting with only the members present in the House in which 40-members voted against the motion and 29 voted for it. In the 70-member state Assembly, Congress has 33 MLAs and has the support of seven-member PDF consisting of three BSP members, three Independents and one UKD member. The 30-member BJP did not have one legislator`s vote with Rudrapur MLA Rajkumar Thukral absconding with an NBW issued against him in a riot case. Earlier, replying to the debate on the motion, Chief Minister Harish Rawat questioned its justification saying in parliamentary democracy, a no-trust motion is the ultimate weapon for the opposition which should be used only if necessary. "I fail to understand where we went wrong, what mistake did I or my government commit in just over a fortnight which should make the opposition party bring a no-confidence motion against us?" he asked. Highlighting the achievements of his government since he assumed power on February one, Rawat said as many as 102 decisions were taken by his Cabinet and about 800 government orders were issued in this brief period. Replying to opposition charge that the Cabinet lacked unity and ministers were vying with each other for plum posts making it difficult for the chief minister to distribute portfolios among them, Rawat said was it possible for a divided Cabinet to take so many decisions in such a short span. Rawat also praised Vijay Bahuguna for doing a commendable job during his tenure when an unprecedented calamity hit the state last year, saying it was a superhuman effort on part of the former chief minister to grapple with the tragedy of such catastrophic proportions.