Pushkar Singh Dhami sworn-in as Uttarakhand CM for second term
Pushkar Singh Dhami on Wednesday was sworn in as the 12th Chief Minister of Uttarakhand at the Parade Ground in Dehradun. Along with him, eight ministers also took oath--including Satpal Maharaj, Premchand Agarwal, Ganesh Joshi, Dhan Singh Rawat, Subodh Uniyal, Rekha Arya, Chandan Ramdas, and Saurabh Bahuguna. Dhami and the eight ministers were administered the oath by Uttarakhand Governor Lt Gen (retd) Gurmit Singh.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh were present at the swearing-in ceremony. Other key dignitaries to attend the ceremony were Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, Goa CM-designate Pramod Sawant, Uttar Pradesh CM-designate Yogi Adityanath, and Rajasthan BJP leader Vasundhara Raje. Several other BJP leaders were also present at the event.
Dhami's cabinet has three new faces -- Chandan Ramdas, Premchand Agarwal, and Saurabh Bahuguna. Saurabh is the son of former Uttarakhand CM Vijay Bahuguna. The rest of the cabinet ministers, Satpal Maharaj, Dhan Singh Rawat, Rekha Arya, Ganesh Joshi, and Subodh Uniyal, have been repeated. Prem Chand Aggarwal, who was the Speaker in the previous legislative assembly, took oath in Sanskrit.
Meanwhile, Ritu Khanduri will make history after becoming the Speaker of the Uttarakhand Assembly. This will be the first time that a woman has been given the responsibility of this post. The 56-year-old is an MLA from Kotdwar seat of Pauri Garhwal. Her father Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri served as the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand twice.
There was suspense on the CM's name in the state even ten days after the results of the recently concluded assembly elections were declared. Notably, BJP managed to score a landslide majority in the state, however, Dhami lost to the Congress candidate from the Khatima constituency. In such a situation, there were doubts about who would lead the government.
The BJP won 47 seats in the 70-member state assembly, which is lower than its 2017 tally of 57 seats. However, Dhami lost his Khatima seat to Congress candidate Bhuvan Chandra Kapri by a margin of almost 7,000 votes. On the other hand, the Congress received only 19 seats with its tallest leader, Harish Rawat, losing from the Lalkuan seat.
In its 20-year-long journey, Uttarakhand has seen 11 chief ministers. BJP has given seven CMs to the state, while Congress has given three. For the first time in the previous five-year tenure of the BJP, Uttarakhand has seen three chief ministers. Out of all the Chief Ministers, only former Congress CM Narayan Dutt Tiwari was able to complete his five-year term.
