Dehradun, 02 Mar 2007

Maj Gen B C Khanduri, who was elected unanimously by the newly elected BJP MLAs on Thursday night, will be meeting Governor Sudershan Aggarwal later in the day to stake claim to form the next Government in the State.

Uttarakhand unit BJP president Bhagat Singh Koshiyari is expected to accompany Khanduri to Raj Bhawan and submit a list of 34 MLAs supporting Khanduri.

However, the consensus on Khanduri`s name came after a marathon meeting, which was attended by party observers Gopinath Munde, Om Mathur, party in charge of the State Ravi Shankar Prasad, senior BJP leaders from the State and the newly elected MLAs.

Koshiyari, who had earlier ruled out any provision of a Deputy Chief Minister`s post in the State, was also in the race to become the next Chief Minister.

Among the 34 MLAs, twenty-four had supported Koshiyari`s claim, but the central leadership finally prevailed over them and got Khanduri, a native of the politically neglected region of Garhwal, unanimously elected.

Khanduri, who was Union Surface Transport Minister during NDA`s regime, joined BJP in 1991 and is presently the Lok Sabha member from Pauri Garhwal.

BJP enjoys a wafer thin majority in the 70-member Assembly, as it won in the 34 Assembly segments of the 69 seats where elections were held.

Three Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) MLAs have also lent their support to the BJP and the latter is in touch with the three Congress rebels, who have the election as Independents. But in spite of this, Khanduri can face tough time with Koshiyari`s aspiration remaining intact.

News Source: http://www.zeenews.com