Stalemate continues in Uttarakhand Congress

Dehradun: Three more Congress MLAs today took oath in the Uttarakhand Assembly even as the political impasse in the state continued with rebel Congress leader Harish Rawat refusing to budge. Eleven rebel Congress MLAs, including Harak Singh Rawat, failed to turn up defying a directive from state Congress Chief Yashpal Arya. [caption id=“attachment_249572” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Harish Rawat. PTI”] [/caption] Among those, who took oath today include senior party leader Indira Hridayesh (Haldwani), Madan Singh Bist (Dwarahaat) and Ganesh Godiyal (Srinagar). It was not yet clear whether all three jumped onto the wagon a day after embattled Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna held talks with rebel Congress leader Harish Rawat, who remained defiant. All the 21 MLAs out of the total 32 were present in the Vidhan Sabha complex to propose the candidature of Mahendra Singh Mahra, a close confidante of Rawat, for the lone Rajya Sabha seat from the state. As the political stalemate continued, lines of worry could be seen on the faces of both chief minister Vijay Bahuguna and PCC chief Yashpal Arya. However, the two leaders said they were confident that all the MLAs would come together and help in the government functioning. “All those who did not come today will join later,” said Arya. Bahuguna, who became the Chief Minister on 13 March, is facing an uphill task to bring the warring factions together and mollify them in order to provide stability to his fledgling government with the pressure being mounted from him from all quarters. PTI