Pushkar Singh Dhami sworn in as 11th CM of Uttarakhand
Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, July 4
Pushkar Singh Dhami took oath as the new Chief Minister of Uttarakhand on Sunday—the third BJP CM in the past four months and 11th since it attained statehood in November 2000.
He was administered the oath of office along with 11 ministers of his Cabinet by Governor Baby Rani Maurya, two days after Garhwal MP Tirath Singh Rawat resigned from the post to avoid “Constitutional crisis” in the hill state. They include senior leaders Satpal Maharaj, Harak Singh Rawat, Banshidhar Bhagat, Yashpal Arya, Bishen Singh Chuphal, Subodh Uniyal, Arvind Pandey, Ganesh Joshi, Dhan Singh Rawat, Rekha Arya, and Yatishwaranand.
Dhami takes over barely a few months to go for the Assembly elections early next year and amid visible signs of reservations among senior leaders over his appointment. Sources said Satpal Maharaj, Madan Kaushik, Subodh Uniyal, Harak Singh Rawat, Bishan Singh Chuphal and Yashpal Arya were among those who expressed reservations regarding Dhami with the party high command. Home Minister Amit Shah spoke to the senior ministers unhappy with the party’s decision to go with the 45-year-old Khatima legislator, they added,
Dhami, who paid courtesy calls on his predecessors Trivendra Singh Rawat and Tirath Singh Rawat, also met Satpal Maharaj. He is understood to have persuaded the senior leader, whose name was among those doing the rounds until Saturday as probables for the chief minister’s post. Satpal Maharaj was the first to leave the legislature party meeting on Saturday, even before Dhami’s election as its leader was formally announced by Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar. However, reports of resentment/reservation were dismissed by senior leaders.
This apart, the young chief minister has inherited a pile of issues from his predecessors and little time to set things right. Challenges before him include a Covid-battered economy, suspended Chardham yatra, fake Covid testing scam during Kumbh in Haridwar and ongoing agitation by priests of Gangotri and Yamunotri against the Devasthanam Board.
Apart from these and the added political challenges of a resurgent Congress amid the growing clout of AAP, Dhami has another issue to address: over the past few weeks, Uttarakhand has been trending on social media over demands to revive land laws to restricting the transfer of land to persons from outside the state to “protect the eco-sensitive state and its cultural identity”.
One of the key demands of the Uttarakhand movement, which turned into a mass movement in the 1990s leading to its formation, the COVID-19, and subsequent return migration since last year has triggered its revival.
Spearheaded by the youth who are using social media to voice their concerns, seniors are also participating in the campaign via word of mouth.
Meanwhile, even before he was sworn in, Dhami was hit by controversy because of an old tweet. In 2015, Dhami tweeted a map purportedly showing “Akhand Bharat (undivided India)”. Apparently, the map included neighbouring countries but missed out on parts of Ladakh and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Dhami meets Satpal Maharaj, efforts on to persuade sulking BJP MLAs in Uttarakhand
Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted his congratulations to Dhami.
“Congratulations to Shri @pushkardhami and all others who took oath today. Best wishes to this team as they work towards the progress and prosperity of Uttarakhand,” Modi tweeted after Dhami’s swearing-in.
— With PTI
Congratulations to Shri @pushkardhami and all others who took oath today. Best wishes to this team as they work towards the progress and prosperity of Uttarakhand.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 4, 2021
