Vijay Bahuguna to be new CM of Uttarakhand

Putting an end to speculations the Congress party on Monday night announced that Vijay Bahuguna, an MP from Tehri Garhwal and a retired high court judge, would be the new chief minister of Uttarakhand.

The 65-year-old, a cousin of outgoing chief minister B C Khanduri, and brother of Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Rita Bahuguna, is the son of Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna, a former Congress leader and chief minister of Uttar Pradesh.

Bahuguna is understood to have won the battle after Mantri Prasad Naithani and Dinesh Dhanai opposed the candidature of Harish Rawat, who was also a top contender.

Earlier, the BSP a presented letter of support to governor Margaret Alva at the Raj Bhavan this evening.

After losing successively to the BJP from Tehri constituency for over a decade, Bahuguna’s fortunes soared in 2007 when he won the by-election from the Tehri parliamentary seat after the death of Maharaja Manvendra Shah. He retained the seat in 2009. A beaming Bahuguna said he would take all sections of the party along with him and "there will be no split". His biggest challenge would be to get elected as an MLA within six months.

BSP leaders said the party chief Mayawati would decide who would become a minister in the new Congress-led government in Uttarakhand.

"We have presented a letter of support to the governor for a stable government in Uttarakhand and our support is unconditional," said BSP leader Meghraj Singh, who is incharge of party's affairs in the hill state.

After the announcement, the Congress general secretary in charge of party affairs in the state Birender Singh said the party will give a letter to the Governor tomorrow informing him that Vijay Bahuguna has been elected the Congress Legislature Party leader and then a date for the swearing-in ceremony will be finalilsed.