Chief Minister Harish Rawat is most likely to convene a Cabinet meeting in next few days at Tehri, where two day Tehri Mahotsav is slated to begin by Saturday. It is learnt from the official sources that after the Cabinet meeting is over, the CM might request the Speaker to convene the Assembly session-probably the last session before the election-to be held at Gairsain in Chamoli district.
Sources privy to the CM office said that the session might be held in a week or two. Observers say that the CM intent on cashing in on the emotive capital shift issue, the ruling party and its allies would use up to the hilt the session to woo the people of the hills.
Observers further say that the sentiment on Gairsain being made the capital of the State still evokes tremendous emotions among the people living in the hills. “If used in the right way, some announcements might pay rich dividends to the ruling party at the upcoming hustings,” said one of them.
Notably, the erstwhile BJP-led State Government had put the lid on the emotive issue by presenting Dikshit Commission report in the Vidhan Sabha. The report was categorical on the point that Dehradun, functioning as the temporary capital since UP was bifurcated to carve out Uttarakhand in 2000, should be made the permanent one through further development.
However, the Congress on coming to power had removed the lid by making the issue open. The former CM Vijay Bahuguna had taken the lead in reviving it. Things had started in the direction of shifting the capital from Dehradun to Gairsain at the behest of the Bahuguna Government, making it an issue to haunt all the parties functioning in the State.
Notably, it was Bahuguna at whose behest the first cabinet meeting was held at Gairsain in 2012, the year the Congress-led Government was formed. The Cabinet meeting had decided to go for building a Vidhan Sabha there. Significantly, in 2013, Bahuguna had laid foundation stone of the Vidhan Sabha building and MlA hostel in Bharadisain. Taking cue from his predecessor, Harish Rawat had decided to take things forward. He had announced that at least one session would be held in Gairsain every year. Things followed as the session was held in a makeshift building in 2014 and later in 2015, it was held in newly constructedITI
building.