Dehradun: Pushkar Singh Dhami took oath as the 12th Chief Minister of Uttarakhand on Wednesday at 2:30 pm. He was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor Lt Gen (Retired) Gurmeet Singh. The swearing-in ceremony was held at Parade Ground in Dehradun and was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari, chief ministers of BJP ruled states including Uttar Pradesh CM-designate Yogi Adityanath, Goa CM-designate Pramod Sawant and other BJP leaders including Rajasthan BJP leader Vasundhara Raje.
This marks the first time a CM has been sworn in for a second consecutive term. The BJP, who came back to power for a second consecutive time after winning a two-thirds majority in the assembly elections, re-elected Dhami as the leader in the BJP Legislature Party meeting. The BJP top brass has expressed confidence in the 46-year-old Dhami, even though he lost the election from the Khatima seat. He will have to win the legislative election within six months to continue as chief minister.
Apart from Dhami, eight ministers were also administered the oath by the Uttarakhand Governor. The BJP MLAs who took oath as state ministers were Satpal Maharaj, Dhan Singh Rawat, Subodh Uniyal, Premchand Agarwal, Rekha Arya, Ganesh Joshi, Chandan Ram Das and Saurabh Bahuguna. Except former CM Vijay Bahuguna's son Saurabh Bahuguna, Bageshwar MLA Chandan Ram Das and Rishikesh legislator Premchand Agarwal, all other leaders were part of the previous Dhami-led cabinet.
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Before the ceremony, Dhami offered prayers at the Race Course Gurudwara and the Tapkeshwar Mahadev temple in Dehradun. JP leaders State President Madan Kaushik along with party-workers also offered prayers at Shiv Shakti Shani Temple on Chakrata Road, Dehradun before the ceremony and prayed of the prosperity of the state.
Meanwhile, it is expected that Ritu Khanduri, MLA from Rajpur seat, will become the first woman Speaker of the Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly. Earlier, Bhuvan Chandra Khanduri had to face defeat at the Kotdwar assembly seat of Pauri district in the 2012 assembly elections, following which his daughter Ritu Khanduri won the same Kotdwar seat in 2022 to become MLA for the second time. She has defeated Congress candidate Surendra Singh Negi by 3687 votes. In the 2017 assembly elections, Ritu Khanduri won the election from Yamkeshwar assembly seat of Pauri district.
As the Speaker of the Assembly is a constitutional post, only the knowledgeable MLAs are given the responsibility thus being an educated MLA, Ritu is a good option for the BJP. The BJP had won 47 of the 70 Assembly seats in the elections, the results of which were declared on March 10.
(With inputs from agencies)
