Vijay Bahuguna to be new Uttarakhand CM

New Delhi, Mar 12 (ANI): The Congress High Command on Monday evening selected Vijay Bahuguna, the Member of Parliament from Tehri Garhwal, to be the next chief minister of Uttarakhand.

Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad informed the media about Bahuguna being selected for the top post.

"Vijay Bahuguna will be the chief minister of Uttarakhand," he said.

Azad had earlier in the day said talks with the newly elected legislators in Uttarakhand had concluded and they would soon announce the name of the chief minister.

"BSP (Bahujan Samaj Party) has also extended their support. There is no problem, as I told you that day before yesterday we were talking to each individual MLA and we were done with that by evening, and we couldn't talk to our members of parliament, and two or three independent MLA's who are supporting us and yesterday we finished that task also," he said.

In the 70-member Assembly, Congress has emerged as the largest party with 32 MLAs and has the support of three independent MLAs and one from UKD. The Bahujan Samaj Party, having strength of three members, has pledged its unconditional support to Congress, raising its tally to 39. (ANI)