BJP picks Pushkar Singh Dhami for second term as Uttarakhand CM

Pushkar Singh Dhanmi will continue as the chief minister of Uttarakhand for a second consecutive term, the BJP announeced on Wednesday, ending the 11-day suspense over it. The BJP’s dilemma on the choice of a chief minister for Uttarakhand was caused by Dhami’s loss in Khatima, a seat he had been winning since the 2012 Assembly polls.

The decision seems to be a recognition on Dhami spearheading the party’s campaign in the hill state that led to a record second straight term. The BJP legislative party meeting to elect the new chief minister of Uttarakhand had begun here around 5 pm. It was attended by BJP’s central observers for Uttarakhand Rajnath Singh, Meenakshi Lekhi and the party’s poll incharge for the state, Pralhad Joshi.

Soon after the decision was announced, Dhami, along with central observer Narendra Singh Tomar, met Governor Lt Gen Gurmit Singh (Retd) to stake claim to form the government in the state.

Dhami was plucked out of obscurity by the BJP last July and made the Uttarakhand chief minister, with just months to go before the state elections. He also happened to be the third leader to occupy the CM’s post during 2021.

Earlier in the year, Trivendra Singh Rawat had to make way for Tirath Singh Rawat. Dhami seemed to have justified the party’s confidence in him.

The BJP won Uttarakhand again, the first time in the state’s 21-year history that a party has come to power for a second term in a row. But in his own Khatima constituency, Dhami lost by a slim margin of about 6,500 votes.

At 45, he was the state’s youngest chief minister when he first took over in July. The state was then grappling with a series of problems and with elections just round the corner Dhami had little time to prove himself.

He began his political career in 1990 with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the student wing of the BJP and was the state president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha twice. He campaigned for reservation of jobs in industries for the local youth.