DEHRADUN: A retired army major general who rose to prominence in BJP by a quirk of fate, Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri returns as chief minister of Uttarakhand after a gap of three years.
Forced out of office in 2009 following a campaign by his bete noire former chief minister Bhagat Singh Koshiyari after the party lost all five Lok Sabha seats in the hill state, 76-year-old Khanduri’s return to power comes at a time when the party is preparing for assembly polls due next year.
When BJP gave a ticket to Khanduri to contest the polls from Pauri constituency in 1991, he refused the offer since his first cousin and Congress leader Vijay Bahuguna was expected to be fielded from there.
But at the eleventh hour, Congress denied a ticket to Vijay Bahuguna, son of late Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister H N Bahuguna who was Khanduri’s maternal uncle.
This opened the door for Khanduri to contest the parliamentary polls and he shot into fame by defeating senior Congress Satpal Maharaj from Pauri seat.
Born on October 1, 1934, Khanduri, who was an engineer in the army, became chief whip of BJP parliamentary party in 1992.
In 1996, he lost the elections to Maharaj but became Vice President of BJP’s Uttar Pradesh unit.(PTI)