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VICTORIA — As former Premier Ujjal Dosanjh tells it in a just-published memoir, one of the biggest challenges he faced on taking office in early 2000 was his own New Democratic Party.

The party and government were both on “life support”, down in the opinion polls after a bumpy decade in office, and divided internally by the forced resignation of Glen Clark as leader and premier the summer before.

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The ex-premier was not inclined to forgive Dosanjh, who as attorney-general had broken the news that Clark was under investigation by police in connection with a casino-licensing scandal.

Clark (who would later be charged and acquitted) remained in caucus during Dosanjh’s brief term as premier, where he and his supporters continued “to make mischief”. Dosanjh had temporarily relegated Moe Sihota, his longtime rival in the Indo-Canadian community, to the backbench, where he seethed and schemed as well.