BJP ends suspense, Dhami to continue as Uttarakhand CM

Pushkar Singh Dhami will be the chief minister of Uttarakhand again, the Bharatiya Janata Party announced on Monday ending 11 days of suspense over the post after the party won the assembly polls.

Party's central observer Rajnath Singh made the announcement after a meeting in Dehradun of the BJP legislature party, which elected Dhami as its leader.

Dhami then headed to the Raj Bhawan along with several newly elected BJP MLAs and Union Minister of State Meenakshi Lekhi to meet Governor Gurmit Singh and stake his claim to form the government.

His swearing-in ceremony as the state's 12th chief minister will be held at the Parade Ground here on March 23.

The BJP had won 47 of the 60 assembly seats in the state, becoming the first party ever in Uttarakhand's 21-year-old history to return to power in consecutive elections. But Dhami failed to retain his own Khatima seat that he had been winning since 2012.

After several rounds of deliberations, the party's central leadership decided to continue with Dhami, who first became CM last July and at 46 is the state's youngest chief minister.

Dhami will have to get elected to the state assembly within six months. Some BJP MLAs and independents have already offered to resign so that he can contest the bypolls from a vacated seat.

Defence Minister Rajanath Singh, who had arrived in Dehradun along with Meenakshi Lekhi in the afternoon, said no other name was discussed at the legislature party meeting.

Dhami was the MLAs' unanimous choice, he told reporters on emerging from the meeting at the BJP's state headquarters.

“I am sure under his leadership the state will develop on all fronts," he said.

Dhami's supporters, who were shouting slogans outside the party office, burst into celebrations as soon as the decision was announced.

By choosing Dhami, the BJP has broken from its past, picking a leader who lost his own assembly seat to head a state government.

In the 2017 assembly elections, Prem Kumar Dhumal failed to get appointed as Himachal Pradesh CM after he lost his own seat. In Goa the same year, the party chose Pramod Sawant instead of continuing with Laxmikant Parsekar after he failed to win a place in the assembly.

This time, however, the BJP, which replaced two CM's in Uttarakhand in 2021, went for continuity.

"The party has shown faith in the young generation to lead the state and realise the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for Uttarakhand," said Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, a former chief minister and an ex-Union minister who was present at the MLAs' meeting.

Dhami too spoke about Modi's aspirations for the state.

"The state's development will be given momentum and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's grand vision for the development of Uttarakhand will be turned into a reality," the CM-designate said.

Uttarakhand will be made a leading state over the next ten years, he added.

Dhami had been brought in as a surprise replacement for CM Tirath Singh Rawat last July. Earlier in the same year, Trivendra Singh Rawat was replaced.

In a tweet, Dhami thanked Modi, BJP president J P Nadda, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh for assigning to him the responsibility of the "mukhya sevak" once again.

At Dhami's home, supporters daubed each other's faces with “gulal”.

Two ministers in Dhami's previous cabinet -- Harak Singh Rawat and Yashpal Arya -- had switched to the Congress ahead of the polls.

There is speculation now that former chief minister B C Khanduri's daughter Ritu Khanduri and ex-CM Vijay Bahuguna's son Saurav Bahuguna could fill the berths.