Tirath Singh Rawat named new Uttarakhand CM, likely to take oath at 4 PM today

DEHRADUN: The BJP on Wednesday named its Pauri-Gharwal MP Tirath Singh Rawat as the new chief minister of Uttarakhand. His name was proposed by the outgoing chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat who had stepped down on Tuesday.

Tirath Singh Rawat, who was chosen as the leader of the BJP legislative party with a voice vote, will most likely take the oath of office and secrecy at 4 PM today. The oath ceremony will be attended by top state BJP leaders, including the outgoing CM Trivendra Singh Rawat.

Tirath was chosen as Trivendra Singh Rawat’s successor during the state legislature party meeting at the BJP headquarters under the watch of party national vice-president and former Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh.

According to reports, names of at least half a dozen leaders, including Dhan Singh Rawat, Bhagat Singh Koshyari, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and Satpal Maharaj, were doing the rounds to replace Trivendra Singh Rawat.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ruled Uttarakhand is witnessing an upheaval due to internal discontent within the state unit, with several MLAs and leaders close to the CM’s office being unhappy with Rawat’s functioning and bureaucracy.

Addressing the media later, Tirath Singh Rawat thanked the party for giving him an opportunity to serve the state.

“The party gave me a golden opportunity to serve this state for four years. I had never imagined that I would get such an opportunity. The party has now decided that the opportunity to serve as the chief minister should be given to someone else,”

Currently the BJP national secretary, Tirath Singh Rawat was the BJP state unit chief from 2013- 2015. Formerly the state vice president of Uttar Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, he was elected as a member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council in 1997 and later became its president.

He was the MLA from the Chaubattakhal constituency from 2012 to 2017. He later became the first education minister of the newly formed state of Uttarakhand. He was elected as the MP from Pauri in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.