Pushkar Dhami takes oath as Uttarakhand chief minister for 2nd term

Dehradun, Mar 23: After days of deliberations and discussions, Pushkar Singh Dhami took oath as the 12th Chief Minister of Uttarakhand at the Parade Ground, Dehradun. The hilly state of Uttarakhand was one of the four states where the BJP claimed victory. Along with him, the cabinet ministers were also administered the oath.

The event was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, BJP president JP Nadda and a host of party leaders including the chief ministers of various BJP ruled states such as Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, his Madhya Pradesh counterpart Shivraj Singh Chauhan, Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar and his Himachal Pradesh counterpart Jairam Thakur.

Besides chief ministers of BJP-ruled states, Goa CM-designate Pramod Sawant, and Rajasthan BJP leader Vasundhara Raje attended the swearing-in ceremony. Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and other BJP leaders also attend the event.

It will be Dhami's second consecutive term in office as Chief Minister. He had been brought in as a replacement for former chief minister Tirath Singh Rawat in July last year towards the fag end of the BJP government's last tenure.

The son of an ex-serviceman, Dhami was born in 1975 in Kanalichhina village in Pithoragarh district. He holds a law degree and worked as a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) volunteer. He also had been a member of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).

The BJP had contested the February 14 assembly polls seeking a full five-year term for the state's youngest CM. Though losing his own seat of Khatima which he had been winning since the 2012 assembly polls, 46-year-old Dhami was credited for the BJP's big win in the state assembly polls in which the party won 47 out of a total of 70 assembly seats. Dhami had all along been projected by the party as its chief ministerial candidate.