Dehradun: A day after being reinstated to the top post, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat today chaired the first Cabinet meeting in the state capital.
Rawat’s media adviser Surendra Kumar said that the meeting took place at the state Secretariat building here. The Cabinet decided to implement all the decisions which were made earlier.
When asked whether Rawat assumed office as Chief Minister, Kumar said, formal assumption of office is not necessary, as he does not have to take charge from anyone else.
The Centre had yesterday revoked President's Rule from Uttarakhand after Rawat-led Congress proved its majority on the floor of the House.
The result of the trust vote was handed over to the Supreme Court in a sealed cover on Wednesday along with video recording of the proceedings in the state assembly. The Congress won by a margin of 33-28 in the floor test on Tuesday.
The Centre had imposed President's rule in the state on March 27, arguing that the Rawat government lost majority when nine rebel Congress MLAs voted against the state government's annual budget.
Rawat's victory sparked jubilation in the Congress camp in Dehradun as well as in Delhi. In Delhi, the Congress said it was the ‘victory of democracy’. But Rawat said he had no acrimony with the BJP government and needed its support for the state's progress.
“I expect better cooperation from the Centre and thus, I will soon meet Prime Minister and Finance Minister,” Rawat told reporters.
Congress workers in Dehradun broke into festivities. They danced and sang, distributed and ate sweets, hugged each other and burst firecrackers near Rajiv Bhavan, the party headquarters in the heart of Dehradun.
Meanwhile, Rawat's problems are not over yet. He has been summoned by the CBI to New Delhi to answer charges that he, in a sting operation, tried to bribe Congress rebels to return to his camp.
