Trivendra Singh Rawat chosen new Uttarakhand CM

New Delhi: Senior BJP leader and former RSS pracharak Trivendra Singh Rawat will be the next chief minister of Uttarakhand where the saffron party won 57 of the total 70 seats in the recently-concluded Assembly elections.

The BJP’s state legislature party unanimously elected Mr Rawat as its leader on Friday, and the swearing-in ceremony is scheduled for Saturday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party president Amit Shah and other top BJP leaders are expected to attend the oath.

Narendra Singh Tomar, the BJP’s central observer for the legislature party’s meeting, said in Dehradun that Mr Rawat’s name was proposed by senior leaders and MLAs — Prakash Pant and Satpal Maharaj — and was seconded by a host of other legislators.

Satpal Mahraj, also a former Union minister, was among the contenders for the top job. He is likely to be appointed as the Assembly Speaker.

After the legislature party meeting, the MLAs left for the Raj Bhavan where they submitted the resolution on Mr Rawat’s unanimous election to governor K.K. Paul.

A graduate in journalism from the Garhwal University, Mr Rawat will be sworn in as the eighth chief minister of the hill state at the Parade Ground. He was appointed as the party’s Jharkahnd in-charge in 2014, and had assisted Mr Shah in UP during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. He has considerable administrative experience as he was minister in the BJP governments led by B.C. Khanduri and Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank.

He had joined the RSS aged 19, and six years later he was appointed pracharak for Dehradun city. He contested his first election in 2002 from Doiwala.

BJP state in-charge Shyam Jaju described Mr Rawat as the most suitable choice for the new responsibility since he was a leader “who had both organisational and ministerial experience.”

“He is perfectly equipped to give the state the kind of leadership it needs,” Mr Jaju said.

Mr Rawat promised to work towards PM Narendra Modi’s goal of eliminating corruption and poverty.

“Providing people of the state with a corruption-free government and bringing about a major change in the lives of the poorest of the poor as targeted by the PM will be our priority,” he said.