Harish Rawat may replace Bahuguna

Rawat is currently the Union Water Resources Minister

The Congress high command is likely to effect a change of guard in Uttarakhand, bringing in Union Water Resources Minister Harish Rawat to replace Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna.

“In the next few days, you may see Harish Rawat as the new chief minister of the state,” claimed a senior Congress leader here. The leader also said the party high command would announce a new state party president in place of Yashpal Arya, who holds the responsibility of a Cabinet minister, too.

But Rawat is not the only leader being projected as the next chief minister. Senior Congress leader Satpal Maharaj, state Finance Minister Indira Hridayesh, Revenue Minister Arya and a host of other leaders have also thrown their hats into the ring. Most of these leaders claim support of about 15-20 legislators. The Congress’ strength in the Vidhan Sabha is 33.

The step is also being seen as Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi’s first major political reshuffle in Uttarakhand. Significantly, Congress President Sonia Gandhi had held a meeting in New Delhi on Wednesday to discuss the future of Bahuguna. Top Congress leaders, including party General -Secretary Ambika Soni and Janardan Dwivedi, had participated in the meeting.

However, sources said a high-level team of senior Congress leaders from New Delhi might travel to Dehradun to take independent views of the Congress MLAs before making the major changes in the state.

The Bahuguna camp is likely to launch last-ditch efforts to play spoilsport to Rawat. A letter, purportedly written by 22 MLAs, was sent to the party high command this month, opposing Rawat. However, half of the MLAs later said denied it.

On the other hand, Bahuguna remains unperturbed on reports of change of guard and has been doing normal office work. “These are mere speculations and such rumours bring excitement in politics.”

Some television channels have claimed Bahuguna might put in his papers shortly.