The BJP’s legislature party here on Monday chose Pushkar Singh Dhami is new Chief Minister of Uttarakhand.
The decision was taken at a legislature party meeting of the BJP which is currently under way at the BJP headquarters in Dehradun.The meeting is being attended by BJP’s central observers for Uttarakhand – Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Union Minister of State for External Affairs Meenakshi Lekhi.
Though Dhami had lost his own seat of Khatima, he was always the frontrunner for the top post among about half-a-dozen names. Other probables were Chaubattakhal MLA Satpal Maharaj, Srinagar MLA Dhan Singh Rawat, former Union minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and Union Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt.Sources say the central leadership, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, were in complete favour of Dhami.Though Dhami lost his seat, the BJP managed to create history by winning as many as 47 of the 70 Assembly seats under his leadership.
Sources also point that “Dhami chose to contest from Khatima despite being warned about internal forces working against him there, to avoid giving a wrong message to voters”.Defence Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated Dhami saying that by running the government efficiently he left a good impression on people.
