In a bid to keep his house intact, Chief Minister Harish Rawat has awarded the Cabinet Minister status to ten MlAs with immediate effect on Sunday.The Chief Minsiter's Office has confirmed that the portfolios will be allocated to the MlAs soon.
Meanwhile, verbal fight between two Cabinet Ministers, — Harak Singh Rawat and Amrita Rawat — has intensified in the State. However, CM Rawat has refused to make any comments on it.
A day before the counting, CM Rawat had appointed seven MlAs, including Madan Singh Bisht, Sarita Arya, Umesh Sharma Kau, Shailarani Rawat, Prof Jeet Ram, Vikram Singh Negi and Rajkumar, as Parliamentary secretaries. Most of them belong to anti-CM Rawat faction and are loyal either to his predecessor Vijay Bahuguna, party veteran ND Tiwari or former Congress leader Satpal Maharaj.
After seeing annihilation of Congress party in general election-2014, CM Rawat has awarded Cabinet Minister status to MlAs. Their names are Kunwar Pranav Singh Champion, Rajendra Bhandari, Mayukh Mahar, Dr Anusuya Prasad Maikhuri, Sarbat Karim Ansari, Haridass, Madan Singh Bisht, Sunderlal Manderwal, Narayan Ram Arya and Navprabhat. With this declaration, CM Rawat has tried to keep their alliance especially BSP, which having three members in the State legislative assembly. Its seriousness can be gauged from the fact that no official notification has been made, but CMO has released the list before the media verbally.
Since Satpal Maharaj exodus, who left Congress and joined BJP, speculation was rife that MlAs loyal to him (Maharaj) may create problem for CM Rawat.
It was also being presumed that after election results, Maharaja loyals may resign from Congress-led Uttarakhand Government so CM Rawat has tried to balance them.