Trivendra Singh Rawat will be new CM of Uttarakhand

DEHRADUN: Trivendra Singh Rawat, former RSS Pracharak, will be sworn in as the ninth chief minister of Uttarakhand in Dehradun on Saturday afternoon, in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP national president Amit Shah.

Trivendra was unanimously elected as leader of BJP’s legislature party at a meeting held on Friday and later, went to Raj Bhavan.

His name was proposed by former Union minister Satpal Maharaj, who is now MLA from Chaubattakhal, and former speaker Prakash Pant, who is MLA from Pithoragarh in presence of BJP’s central observers for Uttarakhand — Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar and MP Saroj Pandey. Both Maharaj and Pant were considered to be in the race for Uttarakhand’s top post.

Union ministers JP Nadda and Dharmendra Pradhan were also present at the 20-minute meeting.

Before the formal declaration, supporters of Pant a nd T r ivend r a shouted slogans in favour of their leaders at two spots outside the hotel.

The former state agriculture minister’s long association with the party’s o r g a n i s at ion a l work in the state worked in his favour.

Trivendra served the Jharkhand as in-charge of the BJP unit there in the last assembly polls. His standing with the central leadership remained undiminished by his defeat in 2012 and in a byelection in 2014.

The BJP national secretary is expected to be spoilt for choice while naming his ministerial colleagues since the BJP won a record 57 seats in the 70-member Uttarakhand assembly. Rekha Arya, Subodh Uniyal, Gopal Rawat, Bishan Singh Chuphal, Harbans Kapur, Madan Kaushik, Yashpal Arya and Harak Singh Rawat can be expected to get a place in the Trivendra cabinet.

“It may not be surprising if Ritu Khanduri, who is daughter of former CM BC Khanduri, also gets a chance to become minister in the new government,” said a source in the BJP.

Another party source said the assembly Speaker’s post was up next. “The names of Satpal Maharaj and Prakash Pant are under consideration. Prakash Pant has been speaker of the house in the past.”