Dehradun: Trivendra Singh Rawat, who was on Friday elected leader of the BJP Legislature Party, will take oath as the next Chief Minister of Uttarakhand on Saturday.


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Announcing this after the legislature party meeting at a hotel here, BJP's central observer for the election Narendra Singh Tomar said Rawat's name was proposed by Prakash Pant and Satpal Maharaj, MLAs from Pithoragarh and Chaubattakhal respectively, and by seconded by a host of other legislators.


Satpal Mahraj, a former Union minister and one of the proposers, was among the contenders for the top job.


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.


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


The political acumen and organisational skills of Rawat (56) were evident in the manner he guided the party to an impressive win in the Jharkhand assembly elections in 2014 as BJP in-charge of the state.


Rawat was elected in the presence of party observers and senior leaders from Delhi -- Tomar, Saroj Pandey, Dharmendra Pradhan, Shyam Jaju and J.P. Nadda -- as well as Uttarakhand BJP President Ajay Bhatt.