Politics in Vijay Bahuguna's blood

Uttarakhand chief minister-designate Vijay Bahuguna may have served as a high court judge and made a mark as an advocate but politics is his true calling as he belongs to a family which has always been associated with this vocation.

Uttarakhand chief minister-designate Vijay Bahuguna may have served as a high court judge and made a mark as an advocate but politics is his true calling as he belongs to a family which has always been associated with this vocation.

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65-year old Bahuguna, who was declared chief minister of Uttarakhand on Monday evening by Congress, is the son of former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna. His father was once close to Sanjay Gandhi and a rising star in Congress till his wings were clipped and he had to quit his post and the party.

Bahuguna senior was a tall leader of Uttar Pradesh who had contested and lost the Lok Sabha elections to filmstar Amitabh Bachchan in Allahabad in 1984. The then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had at that time brought Bachchan into politics to vanquish Bahuguna from Allahabad.

Born on February 28, 1947 in Allahabad, Vijay Bahuguna practised as a lawyer before becoming a judge in the Allahabad high court and later the Bombay high court.

He is a cousin of outgoing BJP chief minister BC Khanduri and brother of UP Congress Committee chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi.

Bahuguna, currently Vice-President of Uttarakhand unit of Congress and a second-term MP representing Tehri Garhwal, quit as a judge and joined politics under the tutelage of his father.