New Delhi:
The Congress, battling allies and Opposition alike, can heave a sigh of relief, at least in Uttarakhand. In a definite climbdown from his earlier stand, Harish Rawat - who led a rebellion against Vijay Bahuguna being made the Uttarakhand Chief Minister - has said he remains loyal to Congress.
And after a day of being locked indoors with his supporters in the capital, Mr Rawat left his home in the morning saying he was going out for "meetings". He then drove down to meet MP Pradeep Tamta. Mr Rawat also met Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh.
"I have always had faith in the party's
nayay (justice). I have worked in the party for 40 years," he said before leaving his house.
The Congress leader also said with a smile that he will attend Parliament, "but just to meet a friend".
Mr Rawat's conciliatory tone comes a day after he said that he should be the Uttarakhand Chief Minister claiming he has the support of many Congress MLAs. Less than half of the Congress' 32 MLAs attended the ceremony in Dehradun.
Many of them were reportedly in Delhi with the sulking Mr Rawat, who has been looked over before by the party leadership, and has written to Congress president Sonia Gandhi. He is said to have threatened to quit the party. Mr Rawat had also scoffed at his party saying that not too many MLAs support him. "The Congress general secretary said Harish Rawat has the support of just six MLAs... so if that were true how come only eight Congress MLAs attended the swearing-in ceremony? Where were the rest? My point has been proved," he told NDTV on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Mr Bahuguna, after taking the charge as Chief Minister today, said, "This is a matter within the family... we have to work to keep communal forces out."
Sources say Mr Bahuguna will come to Delhi tomorrow to meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi. "I will go to Delhi after I have a complete idea of what the state's financial position is so I'm well informed when I meet the Prime Minister or the Finance Minister," he said.
The Congress president will decide on the Cabinet, he said.