BJP retains Pushkar Singh Dhami, Pramod Sawant as CMs

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 21

The BJP today retained Pushkar Singh Dhami as the next Chief Minister of Uttarakhand despite him losing his own seat in the recently held Assembly elections. The saffron party had won 47 of the 70 seats in the poll.

The BJP also ended the suspense in Goa, announcing another term for Pramod Sawant. The party had won 20 of the 40 seats in Goa.

The decision on Dhami was announced by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, appointed an observer by the party to oversee the process along with Union Minister Meenakshi Lekhi. Sources said the central leadership, especially PM Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, were in “complete agreement on Dhami being given another chance to ensure continuity in governance”. Though Dhami lost Khatima seat to Congress’ Bhuwan Chandra Kapri, the BJP managed to create history of sorts by reclaiming the hill state. It was also pointed how he “chose to contest from Khatima despite knowing that certain internal forces were working against him”.

“He (Dhami) did great work helping the party win the 2022 Assembly poll. We are sure Uttarakhand will scale new heights under his leadership,” Rajnath said. Dhami later met Governor Lt-Gen Gurmit Singh (retd) to stake claim to form the new government. BJP’s state president Madan Kaushik said the swearing-in ceremony would be held on Wednesday. The leadership’s decision was acceptable to all BJP MLAs, he added.

Sources said getting Dhami back in the saddle was “not an easy decision”. After his defeat, several names, including that of senior leaders like Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and Satpal Maharaj, had started doing the rounds. The reaffirmation is being seen as a way to keep at bay growing factionalism in the state unit.

Dhami’s RSS background (he began with the sangh’s student wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad) also helped. Sources say Dhami “managed to execute PM Modi’s vision of a double-engine government” to bring the situation around for the BJP. It is the first time in the history of the state that a party has come to power for a second term in a row. —

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