Khanduri takes oath as new chief Minister of Uttarakhand

Dehradun, Mar 8 (UNI) Maj Gen (Retd) Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri today took oath as the new Chief Minister of Uttarakhand here.

Governor Sudarshan Agarwal administered the oath of office to Maj Gen Khanduri who was donning a cream coloured safari suit decorated with his service medals, at a tightly packed Parade Ground in the presence of BJP stalwarts like Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Dr Murali Manohar Joshi and out going Congress Chief Minister N D Tiwari.

Former Speaker Prakash Pant was also administered oath as a Minister. BJP national president Rajnath Singh and party spokesperson and Uttarakhand-in-charge Ravishankar Prasad and MP Hema Malini reached the function after the swearing-in-ceremony was over.

Maj Gen Khanduri who was unanimously elected as leader of the BJP Legislature Party became the fourth Chief Minister of the state after Nityanand Swami(BJP), Bhagat Singh Koshyari (BJP) and N D Tiwari (Congress).

The BJP had emerged as the largest party in the Assembly elections held in February winning 34 out of 69 seats. It was short of one MLA to form the Government.

However, it had managed to get the support of two independent MLAs and Uttarakhand Kranti Dal, a regional Political party with 3 MLAs. Maj Gen Khanduri has been given time by the Governor till March 20 to prove his majority in the Assembly.

The new Chief Minister later took the blessings of sadhu sants who were present on the dias to witness the ceremony.

Among other dignitaries present at the Swearing-in-Ceremony were Chattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, former Delhi Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma, Mr K C Pant, State BJP Chief Bhagat Singh Koshyari, Mr Vijay Bahuguna Congress MP from Tehri, and BJP leader Matbar Singh Kandari.

UNI