Acting chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami’s loss from the Khatima constituency has put the Bharatiya Janata Party in a fix over its choice of chief ministerial face in Uttarakhand. The BJP went to the assembly polls after changing two chief ministers. Dhami was the third CM to take over the reins after Trivendra Singh Rawat and Tirath Singh Rawat. While the BJP, which went into polls projecting Dhami as the CM face, won the elections, Dhami lost.
While around a dozen MLAs have offered to resign from their seats for Dhami, the acting CM visited Delhi earlier this week and held meetings with Union home minister Amit Shah, BJP national president JP Nadda, BJP organisation secretary BL Santosh and Rajya Sabha MP and national spokesperson Anil Baluni. While making Dhami the chief minister of Uttarakhand is always an option on the table as many party leaders credit him for the BJP’s impressive performance, he will have to win an election within six months to retain the chair. The concern among the BJP is that they are a bit hesitant over going to a bypoll and may go for another face.
The party reportedly called Kaladhungi MLA and protem speaker Banshidhar Bhagat to Delhi. While Bhagat confirmed visiting Delhi, he termed it a personal visit. Bhagat is a senior BJP leader and was elected as an MLA for the seventh time this election. In 1991, he was elected to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly for the first time from Nainital and retained the seat in 1993 and 1996. He also served as the Minister of State for Food and Logistics, Minister of Hill Development, Minister of State for Forest in the then Government of Uttar Pradesh. He also served as a cabinet minister in the Uttarakhand government after the state was formed in 2000. He won from the Haldwani seat in 2007, from Kaladhungi in 2012, and retained the seat in 2017 and 2022 as well.
While there are many names doing the rounds for the post, including cabinet ministers in the previous government and some MPs from the state, the BJP legislative party is likely to meet next week to elect its leader who will be sworn in as chief minister.
Top BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Shah, Rajnath Singh and JP Nadda have held extensive parleys in the last few days, working out the broad outlines of the new governments in four states, including Uttarakhand. Seeing the situation evolving due to Dhami’s defeat and to mitigate any dissent related to CM face just like in the previous government, the BJP has made Rajnath Singh its central observer for Uttarakhand. Clarity on the CM face and cabinet ministers is expected early next week.