BJP camp wants MLA as Uttaranchal CM

NEW DELHI, OCT 31: BJP MLAs from Uttaranchal have made it clear that they will not accept a person who does not hold a seat in the new ass...

NEW DELHI, OCT 31: BJP MLAs from Uttaranchal have made it clear that they will not accept a person who does not hold a seat in the new assembly as chief minister of the new state.

“No one from outside the legislature party should be made chief minister. We would prefer only someone who has fought for the creation of Uttaranchal,” said Krishna Chandra Punetha, BJP MLA from Pithoragarh. His demand was supported by Haldwani MLA Tilak Raj Behad. The strong opposition from legislators is likely to mar the chances of K.C. Pant, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission.

The BJP high command’s choice now seems to be limited to Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank, UP Minister for Cultural Affairs, and BJP’s Uttaranchal unit chief Bhagat Singh Koshiyari. BJP has an overwhelming majority of 23 legislators in the 30-member Uttaranchal Assembly.

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Koshiyari’s name was being considered because of his seniority in the party as well as to strike a balance between the Garhwal and Kumaon regions of Uttaranchal. While Dehra Dun, the capital of the new state, lies in Garhwal, some party leaders have been pushing the name of Koshiyari — a Thakur from Pithoragarh — to placate the people of Kumaon.

But senior party leaders, including PM Vajpayee and HRD Minister M.M. Joshi, are learnt to be favouring Pokhariyal, who has held a number of ministerial assignments in UP. “He is suave, polite and efficient”, is how a UP BJP minister summed him up.

Pokhariyal’s candidature too is being opposed by a section of leaders, including his UP Cabinet colleague Matbar Singh Kandari. The leaders feel Pokhariyal won’t be able to meet the challenge of governing a new state. Kandari too had been eyeing chief minister’s chair, party leaders said.

For the record though, all Uttaranchal MLAs and MPs claim to have left the decision of nominating the chief minister to the party high command.Party president Bangaru Laxman is expected to consult Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee and senior leaders before finalising the name by November 8.

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Bangaru, along with party vice president Jana Krishnamurthy, general secretary Narendra Modi and former president Kushabhau Thakre, had individual meetings with party legislators and MPs from Uttaranchal this evening but failed to evolve a consensus on the choice for chief minister.

Legislators say they are against any candidate who does not hold an Assembly seat because no by-election would be possible in the new state till the delimitation of Assembly constituencies is over.

The Election Commission has already specified that the process would not be completed within the next six months, which is the deadline for a chief minister to win a seat in the Assembly if he isn’t an MLA.