Harish Rawat is the new CM of Uttarakhand

Rawat pipped two other front runners for the top post -senior party leader Indira Hridayesh and member of Bahuguna's cabinet Pritam Singh.

Soon after being named the CLP leader, Rawat thanked all senior party leaders including Sonia Gandhi and those from the state including Indira Hridayesh, Vijay Bahuguna, Yashpal Arya and Pritam Singh for supporting him.

Spelling out his priorities, Rawat said it would be definitely to pull the state out of the fallout of the catastrophic flashfloods of June, 2013.

Besides Dwivedi, senior Congress leaders Ambika Soni and Ghulam Nabi Azad attended the CLP meet as central observers.

Bahuguna, who resigned yesterday, had come under criticism for the way he had handled the flood situation and relief and rescue work.

The swearing-in ceremony, originally scheduled to take place at 3:45 PM, was delayed with the CLP meeting stretching to a little over five hours and concluding finally at 5:15 pm.