BJP names Trivendra Singh Rawat as next Uttarakhand CM; oath-taking ceremony on Saturday

Trivendra Singh Rawat promised to work towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi's goal of eliminating corruption and poverty.

Dehradun: Trivendra Singh Rawat was on Friday unanimously elected the leader of Uttarakhand BJP legislature party.

The long-time RSS activist will take oath as the new Chief Minister of Uttarakhand on Saturday.

His name was proposed by BJP leader Prakash Pant and seconded by Satpal Maharaj. The two BJP men were also in the race for the post.

All the other 54 Bharatiya Janata Party legislators then unanimously approved Rawat`s candidature.

Rawat later met Uttarakhand Governor Krishan Kant Paul and staked claim to forming the new government.

After his election as the legislature party leader, Rawat promised to work towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi's goal of eliminating corruption and poverty.

"Providing people of the state with a corruption-free government and bringing about a major change in the lives of the poorest of the poor as targeted by the Prime Minister will be our priority," he told reporters.

He was elected in the presence of party observers and senior leaders from Delhi -- Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Saroj Pandey, Dharmendra Pradhan, Shyam Jaju and JP Nadda -- as well as Uttarakhand BJP president Ajay Bhatt.

Rawat will be sworn-in as the eighth Chief Minister of the hill state at a grand ceremony at the Parade Grounds in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah.

Party sources told news agency IANS that six ministers were also likely to be sworn-in with Rawat.

Meanwhile, in-charge of the party's affairs in the state Shyam Jaju described Rawat as the most suitable choice for the new responsibility since he was a leader who had both organisational and ministerial experience having served as BJP's organisation secretary and a minister.

"Trivendra Singh Rawat is a leader who has both organisational and ministerial experience. He is perfectly equipped to give the state the kind of leadership it needs, " Jaju said.

All about Trivendra Singh Rawat

A former associate of now Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rawat was Agriculture Minister in the previous BJP government in Uttarakhand, which was carved out of Uttar Pradesh in 2000.

Elected from Doiwala, where he defeated Congress`s Hira Singh Bisht with a margin of over 24,000 votes, Rawat is widely regarded in the party for his organisational skills. He is a `Pracharak` in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

Besides being closely associated with Modi when the present Prime Minister was a BJP general secretary, Tomar also worked with Amit Shah in Uttar Pradesh during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. That was when the BJP created history by sweeping 73 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, leaving only five to the opposition and two to an ally.

Rawat, a Thakur, was among the front-runners for the post and is largely credited with the BJP win in Jharkhand where he oversaw the party`s Assembly polls in 2014.

In the just-concluded Assembly Elections, the BJP stunned the Congress by winning 57 of the 70 seats in Uttarakhand.

Rawat will be the fifth BJP chief minister in Uttarakhand. The party formed its first government in the state when it was carved out of Uttar Pradesh in 2000 with Nityanand Swami as the first Chief Minister. Swami was replaced by BJP`s BS Koshyari in March 2001.

The Congress won the first election in the state in 2002 and ND Tiwari headed the government. The BJP returned to power in 2007 with BC Khanduri as Chief Minister. Ramesh Pokhriyal replaced Khanduri in 2011.

In 2012, the Congress formed the government after a nail-biting finish with the BJP in the Assembly Elections that year. Vijay Bahuguna was made the Chief Minister but he was replaced two years later by Harish Rawat in 2014.