Sr Cong leaders scramble for two Cabinet berths

SMA Kazmi

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 25

After Chief Minister Harish Rawat’s announcement to fill the two vacancies in his council of ministers, there is a scramble amongst more than half a dozen senior Congress legislators who are aspirants for the ministerial berths. Many of them have become active and trying to pull strings in party high command to get into the ministry.

Rawat, who had been avoiding expanding his ministry despite vacancies, had created a stir by announcing on July 23 that he would expand his ministry and would seek the permission of the high command soon. The death of Surendra Rakesh, BSP legislator and Social Welfare Minister from Progressive Democratic Front (PDF) quota last year had created a vacany in the state ministry.

However, despite huge pressure from party legislators, the Chief Minister avoided filling it. One of the reasons for the estrangement of the Vijay Bahuguna camp, who later joined the BJP, was getting the vacant ministerial position. After the March 18 rebellion, in which nine Congress legislators raised a banner of revolt against the Chief Minister, Harak Singh Rawat, another senior minister, was sacked, resulting in another vacany in the ministry.

After winning the vote of confidence in May and getting the revised Budget passed in the special session of the Assembly on July 21 and 22, a confident Harish Rawat has announced to fill the vacant positions. Since the resentment in the Garhwal region over giving the Rajya Sabha seat to Pradeep Tamta, his protégé from the Kumaon region, Harish Rawat had indicated that both the vacant positions in his ministry would be filled from the Garhwal region.

Two front runners from Garhwal are Nav Prabhat, a legislator from Vikasnagar who stood with Harish Rawat during the political crisis, and Rajinder Bhandari, MLA from Badrinath Assembly segment in Chamoli district.

However, there are more than half a dozen other contenders for the posts. Senior legislator and former minister Hira Singh Bisht is a strong claimant. He had expressed his desire to be a minister. He is a legislator from Doiwala in Dehradun. Anusuya Prasad Maikhrui, Deputy Speaker, is another contender while Srinagar MLA Ganesh Godiyal has been vocal in seeking ministerial berth.

Harish Rawat would find it difficult to choose his ministers as there is a strong demand from Haridwar to give representation to the district after the demise of Surender Rakesh, who belonged to Haridwar. Mamta Rakesh, his wife and a Congress legislator from Bhagwanpur, has claimed the legacy of her husband.

With a few months left for the notification of the next Assembly polls, there is a pressure on Harish Rawat to adjust the lone Muslim legislator Furqan Ahmed as a minister. Furqan is a legislator from Piran Kaliyar Assembly segment in Haridwar.