Pushkar Singh Dhami takes oath as Uttarakhand Chief Minister

A day after Pushkar Singh Dhami was elected as the leader of Bharatiya Janata Party legislative body party in the hill state of Uttarakhand, the 45 year old leader took oath as the eleventh Chief Minister of the hill-state. Governor of Uttarakhand, Baby Rani Maurya administered the oath ceremony at the Raj Bhavan in Dehradun, followed by Guard of Honour at Bijapur Safe House.

BJP MLAs Satpal Maharaj, Harak Singh Rawat, Bansidhar Bhagat, Yashpal Arya, Bishan Singh Chuphal, Subodh Uniyal, Arvind Pandey, Ganesh Joshi, Dhan Singh Rawat, Rekha Arya, and Yatishwaranand among others are also sworn in as Dhami's new cabinet of ministers in the state.

Tirath Singh Rawat who was priory holding the charge of guard of the state resigned from his then incumbent position on Friday, barely within four months of taking charge. In order to continue in the post, Rawat, who is a MP, needed to be elected to the state Assembly and become a member of the Uttarakhand legislative assembly by September 10.

However, to hold by-polls at the fag end of the term of the house was not feasible for the Election Commission in view of the ongoing Covid crisis. The term of the house will end early 2022.

Pushkar Singh Dhami said, "My party has appointed a common worker, son of an ex-serviceman, who was born in Pithoragarh to serve the state. We'll work together for people's welfare. We accept the challenge of serving people with the help of others, in a short time span."

Born in a middle-class family of Pithorgarh district, Dhami, 45, started his association with the Sangh at a young age and in college, he had associated with the ABVP, working with the RSS students’ wing at Lucknow University and other educational institutions in Uttar Pradesh.