Pushkar Singh Dhami to be Uttarakhand's new Chief Minister, to take oath today
Giving preference to youth over experience, the BJP named the 45-year-old as the 11th chief minister of Uttarakhand, replacing Tirath Singh Rawat, who was in the saddle for just four months.
FollowDehradun: Pushkar Singh Dhami was on Saturday unanimously chosen by the Uttarakhand BJP legislature party to be the eleventh Chief Minister of the state. The change of guard came a day after Tirat Singh Rawat resigned from the post amid infighting and fading chances of his getting elected to the state Legislative Assembly by September 10.
Giving preference to youth over experience, the BJP named the 45-year-old as the 11th chief minister of Uttarakhand, replacing Tirath Singh Rawat, who was in the saddle for just four months.
Dhami is the youngest to take over the CM’s chair in the 21-year-old history of the Himalayan state. Sources said that by naming Dhami, the saffron party has tried to strike a balance between two key factors in Uttarakhand politics – the Thakur-Brahmin equation and the Garhwal-Kumaon factor.
The name of Dhami, considered close to Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, was declared after the 57 Uttarakhand BJP MLAs met at the party headquarters in capital Dehradun.
He rose through his ranks in the party after serving his tenure in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), as well as a member of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and the Bharatiya Yuva Morcha (BYJM), of which he was the state president for six years.
The oath-taking ceremony of the new CM is likely to take place on Sunday evening.
Dhami said he was ready to take on the challenge. “I am aware that I have limited time but I want to assure everyone that I will make all possible efforts to work for the welfare of people. Our party has taken some major decisions in the last four years and I will continue the good work of my predecessors,” he said, adding that he has been a part of youth politics and his focus would be on youth welfare.
He takes over at a time when the state will be facing the assembly polls next year. He, however, said that he will take the challenge of the 2022 Uttarakhand assembly polls and "turn it into an opportunity".
Meanwhile, Tirath Singh Rawat, who had been in Delhi for the past three days confabulating with the BJP's top leadership, was asked yesterday afternoon to quit. Soon after, he sought an appointment with Governor Baby Rani Maurya, but before that he handed his resignation to party chief JP Nadda.
"Given the constitutional crisis, I felt it was right for me to resign. Bye-polls could not be held because of Covid-19," he said on Friday in a brief statement.
His 114-day stint was packed with controversies. The BJP's Uttarakhand leaders had complained to the Delhi leadership about public anger at some of his pronouncements, including one against ripped jeans. Rawat even embarrassed his party by criticising his predecessor's policy decisions.
His handling of the Kumbh Mela at the peak of the Covid spike and the comment that "no RT-PCR test was required" provoked a huge backlash.
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