Congress struggles to find chief minister in Uttarakhand

NEW DELHI/DEHRADUN: Amid intense pulls and pressures, the Congress high command tonight struggled to choose the next chief minister of Uttarakhand amid indications the leader would be an MLA, ruling out the possibility of MPs inluding Union minister Harish Rawat.

The party's central observers Ghulam Nabi Azad and Chauhdary Birender Singh, who elicited the views of the party's 32 legislators as also 2 independent MLAs in Dehradun on the leadership issue, submitted their report to party chief Sonia Gandhi this evening.

Leader of the opposition Harak Singh Rawat, PCC chief Yashpal Arya and Indira Hirdesh (all MLAs) are among the top contenders for the CM's post.

Sources said over a dozen MLAs supporting Harish Rawat for the top job have arrived in the national capital to express their solidarity with him. Party MP Vijaya Bahuguna's name was also doing the round earlier.

What has complicated Congress' task of choosing the CLP leader is conflicting choices of the three independents whose support is crucial for the party's formation of the government.

In the 70-member House, Congress emerged as the single largest party with 32 MLAs - four short of majority--and it needs support of three Independents and one MLA from Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (P) to reach the magic figure of 36.