Pushkar Singh Dhami was today 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.
The name of Mr 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. The 45-year-old is a two-time legislator representing the Khatima constituency in the state's Kumaon region. He was an Officer on Special Duty to former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Bhagat Singh Koshiyari.
Soon after being elected as leader of the legislature party, Mr Dhami thanked the BJP leadership for reposing faith in him and said he will deal with the challenges lying ahead with everyone's cooperation, PTI reported.
Besides the MLAs, today's meeting was attended by the BJP's central observer Narendra Singh Tomar, who arrived in capital Dehradun around noon, and its state in-charge Dushyant Kumar Gautam. Ahead of the meeting, Mr Tomar held discussions with several state leaders, including Mr Rawat himself.
The names of nearly half-a-dozen MLAs had done the rounds as probables for the top job, including that of Satpal Maharaj, Dhan Singh Rawat, besides Mr Dhami, according to a PTI report. A section of party leaders also recommended former Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, the report said.
Tirath Singh Rawat, till then an MP, was sworn in as Chief Minister in March following fierce dissent against Trivendra Singh Rawat. To keep the post, however, Mr Rawat had to win an assembly seat by September 10. Holding a bye-poll amid the Covid pandemic seems an increasingly distant possibility, though, especially given that the Assembly polls are due in less than a year's time. Moreover, the Election Commission had recently found itself in the midst of a major row over the March-April election in five states held alongside rising infection rates in the second wave.
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