After days of speculation, Pushkar Singh Dhami was elected leader of BJP legislature party in Uttarakhand on Monday, paving the way for his taking over the reins of the state for a second time.
Dhami, who lost from the Khatima Assembly constituency in Uttarakhand, led the party’s poll effort as Chief Minister during the Assembly polls held last month. The results were announced on 10 March and there was speculation if he would be chief minister for a second time. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Union Minister of State for External Affairs Meenakshi Lekhi were central observers for the meeting. They announced that Dhami had been elected leader by the newly-elected party MLAs.
Several names, including that of former Union minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Union Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt, Rajya Sabha member Anil Baluni, MLA Dhan Singh Rawat and Uttarakhand Tourism Minister Satpal Maharaj were among doing the rounds as possible choices for Chief Minister.
Dhami had lost to Congress candidate Bhuwan Chandra Kapri from Khatima by a margin of 6,579 votes in the state polls. He got a total of 41,598 votes with a vote share of 44.8% against Kapri who got 48,177 with 51.89% votes. Dhami had won twice from the seat. The son of an ex-serviceman, Dhami was born in 1975 in Kanalichhina village in Pithoragarh district. He holds a law degree and worked as a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) volunteer. He also had been a member of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).
Dhami served as the president of BJP Yuva Morcha in Uttarakhand twice between 2002 and 2008. He is believed to be a protege of former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Bhagat Singh Koshyari. Dhami will be the 13th Chief Minister of the hill state. He belongs to the Kumaon region. The last two Chief Ministers before him were from the Garhwal region. The BJP won the popular mandate for the second consecutive term in Uttarakhand and won 47 seats in the 70-member Assembly.
IN MANIPUR AND GOA
Meanwhile, a report from Imphal said N. Biren Singh took oath as the Chief Minister of Manipur in Imphal, for a second term, on Monday. Singh was unanimously elected as leader of the legislature party of the BJP in a meeting held on Sunday, which was attended by the party’s central observers, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, and Union Law and Justice Minister Kiren Rijiju. Ahead of the BJP’s state legislature party meeting, Singh had visited Delhi and met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. BJP retained power in the state by winning an absolute majority with 32 seats in the 60-member House in the recently concluded Assembly polls. Congress bagged five seats and the NPP won seven seats. Naga People’s Front bagged five and the Kuki People’s Alliance got two seats. Independents bagged three seats. The BJP leaders had been discussing the government formation in Manipur after the BJP won an absolute majority in the state for the first time. The BJP had formed the previous government in the state with the support of the Naga People’s Front (NPF) and the National People’s Party (NPP) with Biren Singh as Chief Minister.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday congratulated N. Biren Singh after he was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Manipur and exuded confidence that the state would be taken to new heights of progress. PM Modi tweeted, “Congratulations to Shri @NBirenSingh Ji on being sworn-in as the Chief Minister of Manipur. I am confident his team and he would take Manipur to newer heights of progress and continue the good work done in the last five years.”
In Goa, the BJP legislative party elected Sanquelim MLA and caretaker Chief Minister Pramod Sawant as its leader on Monday. He will be sworn in as the next Chief Minister of the state. “I want to thank PM Narendra Modi and Union HM Amit Shah to have given me the opportunity to work as the CM of Goa for next 5 years. I am glad that the people of Goa have accepted me. I’ll do everything possible to work for development of the state,” Pramod Sawant said. Vishwajit Rane proposed the name of Pramod Sawant as the Leader of the Legislative Party. Everyone unanimously elected Sawant as the Leader. He will be the Leader of the Legislative Party for the next five years, said Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister and BJP’s central observer for Goa. After being elected as the leader of BJP’s legislative party, Pramod Sawant on Monday said he would try to provide a corruption free government.