Congress looks to Sonia Gandhi to resolve Uttarakhand crisis

New Delhi, Mar 14 (ANI): Congress leader Pradeep Tamta on Wednesday said he was hopeful that party president Sonia Gandhi would find a solution to the political turmoil in Uttarakhand, after senior Congress leader Harish Rawat resigned as a Union Minister for not being chosen as the new chief minister of the state.

Addressing mediapersons here, Tamta said there were differences within the party.

"We are fighting within the party. The entire nation has seen what we were saying yesterday. Our fight is not outside the party, and we have complete faith in Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, and, we are sure that she will find a solution to our problem," said Tamta.

Earlier in the day, Rawat and his supporters met Tamta to decide on the future course of action.

Nearly a week after the declaration of poll results, the Congress party selected lawmaker Vijay Bahuguna as the new chief minister of Uttarakhand.

Bahuguna was sworn in as chief minister on Tuesday. Supporters of Harish Rawat expressed their unhappiness and raised slogans against the party high command over the decision.

The Congress party emerged as the single largest party in Uttarakhand.

In a close contest, the Congress party won 32 seats, one more seat than the ruling BJP's tally of 31 in the 70-member state legislature.

The party claimed the support of three independent candidates and one member from the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) and was able to avoid a hung assembly by crossing the halfway mark of 35 seats.

The Congress Party also secured the support of three Bahujan Samaj Party legislators. (ANI)