Pushkar Singh Dhami to be new Uttarakhand CM

Dehradun: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Pushkar Singh Dhami has been named as the new Chief Minister of Uttarakhand replacing Tirath Singh Rawat. The 45-year-old legislator from the Kumaon region will be the 11th Chief Minister of the state. He will also be the third Chief Minister of the state during this regime of the BJP after Trivendra Singh Rawat and Tirath Singh Rawat in a year. Dhami, who represents the Khatima constituency, will also be the youngest chief minister of the state so far. 

Speaking to the media, Dhami 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." As per sources, he will take oath as the Chief Minister late in the evening today. 

He was elected new CM of the hill state in a meeting of the BJP's legislative party held in Dehradun. The election was held in the presence of central observers — Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and party national general secretary D. Purandeswari. BJP in-charge of Uttarakhand Dushyant Gautam was also present in the meeting. 

Born in 1975 at Tundi village in Pithoragarh district, Dhami is a two-time MLA from Khatima constituency in Udham Singh Nagar. He holds a Postgraduate degree in Human Resource Management and Industrial Relations from Lucknow University. He was very active in raising students' issues during his college days and also worked in different positions in the RSS' students wing ABVP from the year 1990 to 1999. He has also served as president of BJP youth wing president in Uttarakhand for two terms. 

It is worth mentioning here that Uttarakhand is due for the Assembly election in less than a year.  Earlier Tirath Singh Rawat submitted his resignation to Governor Baby Rani Maurya. Rawat, who is the Lok Sabha MP from Pauri Garhwal, took over as the Chief Minister on March 10 this year.