New Delhi, July 3
Two-time Khatima MLA Pushkar Singh Dhami (45) will be the new Chief Minister of Uttarakhand. The young BJP leader has on his shoulders the huge responsibility of steering a faction-ridden state unit to victory in the upcoming Assembly elections a few months from now in 2022. He will take oath as Chief Minister on Sunday.
Dhami’s name was proposed at the Legislature Party meeting in Dehradun a day after Garhwal MP Tirath Singh handed over his resignation as the Chief Minister to Governor Baby Rani Maurya to avoid “constitutional crisis”.
Speaking to the media after the announcement, Dhami said he would work towards taking the Centre’s schemes to the grass-roots level and try to win people’s hearts by serving them as the ‘pratham sewak’ of the state. He also said that he would try to “turn the challenge of 2022 Assembly elections into an opportunity” for his party.
Dhami represents the Khatima constituency in Udham Singh Nagar district, the region known as ‘terai’ and dominated by farmers, largely belonging to the Sikh community, and the center-stage of protests against the three Central farm laws.
Interestingly, he is only the second BJP Chief Minister from the Kumaon region. So far, the post has been dominated mostly by leaders from the Garhwal region, specifically Pauri.
A ‘Thakur’ by caste, Dhami is believed to be close to former CM and Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari. He served as the Officer on Special Duty to Koshyari when he was the Chief Minister.
Originally from the RSS/ABVP roots, Dhami held the post of the president of the state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, BJP’s youth wing. He is also said to be close to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.
Observers see his anointment as a message to the old guard in the state—Satpal Maharaj, Dhan Singh Rawat and Harak Singh Rawat.
The youngest BJP Chief Minister has never held a ministerial position in the state Cabinet but is said to enjoy a strong sway among the youth.
Dhami will be the third BJP Chief Minister during this regime of the party after Trivendra Singh Rawat and Tirath Singh Rawat. He has the huge responsibility of steering the BJP to victory in the Assembly polls next year. Sources say his name was decided by the Central leadership and that his election in the legislature party meeting was merely a formality.
The development comes amid reports of “deep divisions” in various factions.
The buzz also is that the BJP feared landing in a bigger bind if Tirath Singh had lost the elections given the current situation in the state. The party was also worried over the fate of the Lok Sabha seat which Tirath Singh would have had to vacate to contest the Assembly elections, Gangotri or Haldwani.
This is possibly the reason why the leadership went in for a change, selecting someone who already is an MLA. According to sources, neither Tirath Singh nor the Uttarakhand Government petitioned the Election Commission of India to hold by-elections to allow him to become a Member of the Uttarakhand Assembly before the due date
Notably, Tirath Singh, who took charge of Uttrakhand in March following “allegations of corruption and discontent” against then- Chief Minister Trivendra Rawat, had not resigned from the Garhwal Lok Sabha seat he was elected to in 2019.
