BJP Names Pushkar Singh Dhami As New Uttarakhand CM

BJP MLA Pushkar Singh Dhami will be the next Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, sources told Outlook. Dhami is set to be the 11th CM of Uttarakhand.

A day after Uttarakhand Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat's dramatic exit, Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar reached the Bhartiya Janta Party's state headquarters in Dehradun for the All Party Legislative Meet. He along with other party leaders are going to elect a new CM for the state.  And according to reports, Dhami's name has been formally announced at the BJP Legislature meeting at the state BJP headquarters at Dehradun.

Following the announcement of his elections as leader of the legislature party, Dhami thanked party leadership for reposing faith in him and said that he will deal with the challenges lying ahead with everyone's cooperation.

Dhami's election was announced by central observer Narendra Singh Tomar.

Speaking to reporters and said, "My party has appointed a common worker, son of an ex-serviceman, who was born in Pithoragarh to serve the state. We'll work together for people's welfare. We accept the challenge of serving people with the help of others, in a short time span," ANI reported.

Dhami is the two-time sitting MLA from the Khatima constituency in the Udham Singh Nagar district. He is considered by many to be on close terms with Bhagat Singh Koshyari, Maharashtra Governor and former Uttarakhand chief minister.

Rawat handed over his resignation letter to Governor Baby Rani Maurya past 11 pm after holding the post for less than four months, hours after returning from New Delhi after his meeting with BJP's top leadership.

Three months after he was sworn in as chief minister of Uttarakhand, Rawat had offered to resign from the post, triggering a constitutional crisis in the state that is set for assembly polls early next year. Rawat, sources say, had written to his party’s national president JP Nadda expressing his desire to step down. 

The resignation marked the end of months of speculation, with some politicians such as Aam Aadmi Party's Somnath Bharti, blaming Rawat's poor handling of the Covid-19 pandemic in the state as the reason for his apparent dismissal from the post.

Pushkar Singh Dhami will be the third Uttarakhand CM this year following Tirath Singh Rawat and Trivendra Singh Rawat before him.