After winning trust vote, Bahuguna crosses all hurdles

For Vijay Bahuguna, he has crossed all political hurdles after having become the chief minister of Uttarakhand.

A day after the Congress government won a crucial trust vote in the state Assembly, its candidate Mahendra Singh Mahra, a loyalist of Harish Rawat, on Friday won the lone Rajya Sabha seat defeating the BJP’s Anil Goyal by eight votes in yet another politically important contest.

Yesterday, within minutes after the one-line motion was tabled in the House by the chief minister, the government won the trust votes by 39-0 after the Opposition (BJP) members made a noisy walkout.

This also means that all the seven non-BJP MLAs comprising three legislators of the BSP, voted in favour of the Congress in all the three contests including that of the election of speaker, giving a moral boost to Bahuguna in the face of a crisis in the ruling party.

“We have now scored on all fronts,” said an elated Bahuguna. “This is enough to silence the Opposition.”

Harish Rawat also congratulated the Congress MLAs and the chief minister and said the government would complete its five-year-term without any doubt.