17 Congress MLAs refuse to take oath in Uttarakhand
NEW DELHI: The crisis in the Uttarakhand unit of
Congress heightened on Thursday, after MLAs opposed to the party high command's decision to `thrust' Tehri MP
Vijay Bahuguna on them refused to take oth as MLAs.
Of the 32 MLAs elected on the Congress ticket, only 15 turned up, indicating that majority MLAs were not on the same page with the high command on the issue of nominating Bahuguna chief minister. All 31
BJP MLAs, on the other hand, took their oath, which was administered by pro-tem speaker Shailendra Mohan Singhal. Three independents, Pritam Singh Panwar of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (P) and all 3 BSP MLAs, all who have backed Congress also took their oath.
Of the 17 Congress legislators who stayed away from the swearing-in ceremony in Dehra Dun, 13 were said to be hard-core supporters of Union minister Harish Rawat, who has led the revolt against the party leadership's decision to give the nod to Bahuguna, overlooking the claims of his rivals. The remaining four were reported to be `neutral' in their loyalties, but were said to be cut up with the party brass for selecting the Tehri MP as chief minister.
Among those who are yet to take oath as MLAs were leader of the opposition in the previous assembly
Harak Singh Rawat and former minister Indira Hridayesh, both claimants for the chief minister's post. They have now rallied behind Harish Rawat.
If the defiance by the Harish Rawat-backers persists for a few more days, Congress may have problems in getting their nominee elected as the assembly speaker. Governor
Margaret Alva has convened the inaugural session of the newly-elected Uttarakhand assembly on March 26, giving 11 days to Congress to muster the numbers required to ensure survival of the government. If the anti-Bahuguna camp sticks to its stand, then Congress may find it difficult to get its candidate elected as the assembly speaker.
Against this backdrop, the central leadership is expected to use the interregnum to step up efforts to mollify Harish Rawat and his supporters to give up their defiance, even though there were no reports of any such attempt made on Thursday.
Congress high command's hopes of getting recalcitrant MLAs to fall in line is expected to run into problems because of restrictions put in place by the Constitution on the strength of the ministry. Bahuguna will have to award ministerial berths to all three independents and the lone UKD legislator, reducing the elbowroom for the chief minister to accommodate aspirations of party colleagues.
While speaking to newspersons after taking oath, Mantri Prasad Naithani, the newly-elected independent MLA from Deoprayag, said they were expecting cabinet berths in the Bahuguna ministry. "We will not settle for anything less than a cabinet rank," Naithani said.
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