Uttarakhand CM to be named today

Vibha Sharma

New Delhi, March 20

The name of the next Chief Minister of Uttarakhand will be announced on Monday following a meeting of newly elected MLAs in Dehradun to elect the leader of the legislature party.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah today met with BJP president JP Nadda and senior leaders from the state, including caretaker CM Pushkar Singh Dhami, Trivendra Singh, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Madan Kaushik and Satpal Maharaj, to finalise the name of the next CM.

Sources say a “grand” oath-taking ceremony is likely to be organised on March 23.

Later, senior leaders, including general secretary (organisation) BL Santhosh, briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding the government formation in four states the BJP won in the recently concluded Assembly elections.

While the rest is all settled, suspense around the name of the next Uttarakhand Chief Minister prevails.

Though Dhami continues to be the frontrunner, since March 10 the names of several state leaders, including Chaubattakhal MLA Satpal Maharaj, Srinagar MLA Dhan Singh Rawat and Rajya Sabha member Anil Baluni, are doing the rounds. The buzz is that the new CM is “likely to be chosen from winning nominees”.