Uttarakhand to get new CM today

February 01, 2014 11:30

The Congress Legislature Party will meet in Dehradun on Saturday to choose the next chief minister of the state.

Union Minister Harish Rawat and state minister Pritam Singh have emerged as the frontrunners for the top job in the hilly state.

The meeting is taking place after Uttarakhand CM Vijay Bahuguna resigned from his post on Friday.

Addressing the press, Bahuguna said he has submitted his resignation to the state Governor. He added that he was merely following the wishes of his party.

The decision to replace Bahuguna was taken at a meeting Congress chief Sonia Gandhi had with senior party leaders on Thursday. Union Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and AICC general secretaries - Janardan Dwivedi and Ambika Soni, who is in charge of party affairs in the state - are being sent there as central observers for the changeover, PTI had quoted highly-placed Congress sources as saying.

Rawat and Pritam Singh, who is Food and Civil Supplies Minister in the Bahuguna Cabinet, are the frontrunners, they said.

Others in the race include state Finance Minister Indira Hridayesh.

Bahuguna had been under pressure ever since he was appointed. The flash floods that hit Uttarakhand last year and the massive rescue and rehabilitation work they entailed also brought his leadership skills into question.

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