Pushkar Singh Dhami to be Uttarakhand’s 3rd Chief Minister in 4 months

Mangalore Today News Network / NDTV

Dehradun, Jul 03, 2021: Pushkar Singh Dhami was today chosen by the Uttarakhand BJP legislative 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.

Uttarakhand is due for Assembly election in less than a year.

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.

"A constitutional crisis has emerged in Uttarakhand because there is less than a year for the next election. Will the Election Commission give permission to hold a bye-poll? While it has the mandate to hold an election, there have been instances where it denied permission," former Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat had told NDTV.

"The Election Commission has given in writing that it cannot hold elections amid the Covid pandemic in certain states," he said.  

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 yesterday 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. Mr 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.