Khanduri takes oath as Uttarakhand Assembly member

Dehradun, Sept 5 (UNI) Uttarakhand Chief Minister Maj Gen (Retd) Bhuvan Chandra Khanduri today took oath as a member of the state Assembly.

He was administered the oath by Assembly speaker Harbans Kapoor in his tightly packed room in the assembly premises. After the oath taking ceremony, Opposition Leader Harak Singh Rawat, and Lt Gen(Retd) Tej Pal Singh Rawat congratulated him. Leaders of Uttarakhand Kranti Dal a BJP ally in the Assembly also congratulated Maj Gen Khanduri, while party members presented boquets to him and offered sweets.

Maj Gen Khanduri who is presently the Lok Sabha MP from Pauri, had recently won Dhumakot Assembly by-poll against Congress rival Surendra Singh Negi by a huge margin of 14,171 votes.

Talking to the media later, Gen Khanduri said that he was grateful to the people of Dhumakot who had voted in his favour despite political difficulties and braving inclement weather during the polling. He also expressed his gratitude towards Lt Gen Rawat for vacating has seat for him.''I would not let his sacrifice for the sake of development go waste. I would ensure that the region is not left undeveloped and all would see the new Uttarakhand in five years'',he asserted.

Maj Gen Khanduri maintained that a lot of problems still existed in the state, but assured that the BJP government would commit itself to look into the welfare of the people and groom the state in tune with the dreams of those martyred in the struggle for its creation.

Denying that his decision to initiate probe into scams surfaced during the Congress regime was due to a political vendetta, Maj Gen Khanduri said that single member Verma Enquiry Commission was working on it. He however, refused to divulge any further details.

With Maj Gen Khanduri taking oath today the strength of BJP in the state assembly has reached to comfortable majority with 36 members in elected 70 member house. Congress was been reduced to 20 after Lt Gen Rawat resigned from his Dhumakot constituency to join BJP.

Bahujan Samaj Party is the third largest party with eight MLAs.

BJP's ally Uttarakhand Kranti Dal has three MLAs and there are three other independents also supporting the BJP government. Khanduri is likely to submit his resignation from Parliament seat within the stipulated 14 days time.

UNI