Cong confused as Bahuguna leaves for Singapore

Former chief minister and senior Congress leader Vijay Bahuguna left the state unit with anxiety when he left for Singapore on Friday, in the midst of the party debating whether he should be made to contest from the Tehri Lok Sabha seat.

Dehradun: Former chief minister and senior Congress leader Vijay Bahuguna left the state unit with anxiety when he left for Singapore on Friday, in the midst of the party debating whether he should be made to contest from the Tehri Lok Sabha seat.

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The party had been keen on Bahuguna being in the fray but the two-time Parliamentarian has been clearly uninterested. He reportedly agreed to contest only if the central leadership asked him.

But with this new development, the Uttarakhand Congress is in a fix. With Bahuguna away, it now needs to start evaluating other contenders for the Tehri ticket, which includes Bahuguna’s son Saket and half a dozen other Congressmen including former Dehradun mayor Manorama Sharma, former ministers Navprabhat and Kishor Upadhyay.

“There is no question of Bahugunaji contesting. However the party is yet to take call on Saket. We are workers and will follow party orders”, told Subodh Uniyal, Congress MLA considered close to ex-CM.

Vijay Bahuguna left the country to seek medical consultancy for his ailing wife, according to his associates. The ex-CM had earlier said that he would bow out from electoral politics to make way for the new generation.