The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on March 17 have picked Trivendra Singh Rawat, as the new chief minister of Uttarakhand. Rawat, 56, represents Doiwala assembly constituency, is an ex-Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) pracharak and is reportedly close to party’s national president Amit Shah.
According to ANI tweet, Rawat was formally elected as the BJP Legislative Party leader in a meeting attended by Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, BJP general secretary Saroj Pandey, state’s election in-charge Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and BJP’s state in-charge Shyam Jaju. He will take oath as Chief Minister on Saturday.
All the 57 newly-elected legislators of the BJP have been asked to come to the state capital between Friday and Saturday to take part in the swearing-in which is likely to be a grand affair as the party has swept back to power after five years and that too with a landslide majority.
“The new chief minister will take oath on March 18 at 3 pm. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party president Amit Shah and several other senior leaders will be present on the occasion,” said state BJP president Ajay Bhatt.
Security arrangements are being made at the Parade Grounds, keeping in mind the VVIPs who will attend the event. Senior police and district officials along with some BJP legislators have been visiting the venue to oversee arrangements for the Saturday event.
Rawat was with the RSS from 1983 to 2002, and held the key post of organising secretary of the Uttarakhand region at first, and later the state. He first won the Doiwala assembly seat in 2002.
Elected to the assembly for the third time, he was state agriculture minister in 2007-2012. Earlier, the names of Satpal Maharaj and Prakash Pant were also doing the rounds for the chief minister’s post.
