Wrap-up: States get new chiefs

Uttar Pradesh
Yogi Adityanath
Autobiography of a Yogi
A five-term Lok Sabha MP, BJP leader Yogi Adityanath is a fiery Hindutva mascot who has developed a reputation of being controversy’s favourite child over a period of time. Named as the next Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh on Saturday, 44-year-old Adityanath, a priest-turned-politician, is known for his provocative speeches and mass following across the state and never shies away from making controversial remarks, be it about Islam or Pakistan.

Clad in saffron-coloured robe, Aditayanth, a Gorakhpur MP, has been seeking greater power and is expected to give a push to BJP’s Hindutva-wrapped agenda of development with the emergence of a separate powerbase for the party in eastern UP. He is a strong votary of construction of a Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya.

Uttarakhand
Trivendra S. Rawat
Loyalty pays
From an obscure RSS pracharak for Dehradun city to the chief ministership of Uttarakhand, it has been an amazing journey for Trivendra Singh Rawat whose fierce loyalty to the BJP and RSS saw him pip rival heavyweights like Satpal Maharaj to the post. Coupled with his administrative and organisational skills and experience, his loyalty to the party and RSS ideology seemed to have won the day for him.

So impressed was home minister Rajnath Singh with his unflinching devotion that while asking people to vote for Rawat, he had said, “Trivendra Singh Rawat ne kabhi apni nishtha nahin badli (he never switched his loyalty).”

The ringing endorsement by the fellow Thakur leader from neighbouring Uttar Pradesh seems to have worked for 56-year-old Rawat.

Goa
Manohar Parrikar
It’s a Ghar wapsi
For Manohar Parrikar, who proved himself to be BJP’s best bet in Goa by sewing up a coalition and proving its majority on the floor of Assembly, it is a homecoming and another stint as Chief Minister of the coastal state. Despite failing to secure majority, the BJP managed to win the support of two regional parties besides the backing of two Independents, outsmarting the Congress which emerged as the single largest party with 17 seats in th 40-member house.

Right from the start of campaigning, the BJP had sent across a subtle message that if it wins, the government would be headed by Parrikar.

A metallurgical engineer from IIT Bombay, Parrikar, post-election, displayed political acumen in forging a coalition winning over the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and Goa Forward Party.

Manipur
N. Biren Singh
Ex-footballer scores a goal
In what may be called Assam’s political story being replayed in Manipur, Chief Minister Nongthombam Biren Singh’s political journey has been similar to Assam’s Himanta Biswa Sarma.

Both have been the key strategist for the Congress party in their respective states and helped Congress twice in returning to power but finally compelled to leave the party because of differences with the Chief Ministers to join the BJP.

A national-level football player-turned-journalist Nongthombam Biren Singh was key member of the Congress when he decided to join BJP in October 2016.

He also faced a lot of onslaught of insurgent groups as editor of — Naharolgi Thoudang, a language daily, which grew from a weekly to daily in his leadership.

Punjab
Amarinder Singh
Captain to lead from the front
One of the strongest regional satraps of the Congress, Amarinder Singh put the party back in the saddle in Punjab after the “father of all battles” that decimated the SAD and crushed the AAP’s dream of expanding its footprint beyond Delhi.

Amarinder, 75, a widely respected and popular leader, steered the Congress to a landslide victory winning 77 seats in the 117 member Assembly to occupy the chief minister’s post for the second time.

The maharaja’s win in Punjab after 10 years has also rekindled the hopes for the revival of the Grand Old Party.

Belonging to a very rare breed of politicians who have seen action in the Indo-Pak war, Singh this time tasted success after Akali Dal supremo Parkash Singh Badal foiled his previous attempts to become chief minister in 2007 and 2012.

Once a leader of the Akali Dal, the ‘scion of Patiala’ fought in the 1965 war after he rejoined the army a few months after his resignation.

He again resigned from the Services as a decorated soldier at the conclusion of the war.