Vijay Bahuguna fails to create mark in Uttarakhand politics

Last week we had a glimpse of Hemawati Nandan Bahuguna who served as a Union Minister and later as chief minister had left an indelible impact on Indian politics more than the development of Uttar Pradesh. This week let us see how his son Vijay Bahuguna who had a very late entry into politics performed as Chief Minister of Uttarakhand.

Vijay is a legal luminary. For over two decades he practiced as a lawyer with civil and constitutional matters being his focus areas. He was designated as a senior advocate at the young age of 41 and was also appointed as senior counsel for Uttar Pradesh. After a successful career, Vijay Bahuguna became a judge at the Allahabad High Court in November 1991 from where he was transferred to the Bombay High Court in April 1994 but he resigned in February 1995 to join politics.

He served Congress party as vice-president of Uttarakhand unit and was a two time Lok Sabha MP before he took oath as Uttarakhand's chief minister in 2012. He was replaced by Congress leader Harish Rawat after a two year stint as Chief Minister in 2014. Bahuguna failed to deliver efficient administration due to open defiance by his ministers. His stock fell drastically after the devastating June 2013 flash flood in the state that killed thousands.

His government had received widespread criticism for handling rescue operations in the wake of floods in June, 2013. His leadership skills came under scrutiny in the wake of a natural calamity of catastrophic proportions that had hit the State in June last year claiming thousands of lives.This soured his relationship with the Congress and finally he left the Congress and joined the BJP.

Changing political allegiance these days is not a new or rare phenomena for the politicians. Vijay Bahuguna's sister Rita Bahuguna Joshi was first with the Samajwadi Party following which she was with the Congress in Uttar Pradesh where she played a prominent role. But in October 2016, she too joined BJP.

When Vijay switched loyalties to BJP many felt that it was a wrong step since Congress was in a better position politically in Uttrakhand. But his political judgement proved right as the saffron party became the winning horse.