Born in a middle-class family of Pithorgarh district, Dhami, started his association with the Sangh at a young age. As a college student, he spent 10 years in the ABVP, working with the RSS students’ wing at Lucknow University and other educational institutions in Uttar Pradesh.

A post-graduate in human resource management and industrial relations, Dhami proceeded to the BJP Yuva Morcha, and for two terms between 2002 and 2008, he was its Uttarakhand president. BJP Chief Ministers Ramesh Pohkhriyal Nishank and Maj Gen BC Khanduri (retd) both had Dhami as vice-chairman of the Urban Monitoring Committee with the rank of state minister.

In 2012, the BJP gave him a ticket from Khatima in Udham Singh Nagar district, and he won. Since 2016, he has been state vice-president. When Dhami again won as an MLA in 2017, he was widely tipped to get a ministerial post under Trivendra Singh Rawat, but was left out.

Given that, Dhami was a surprise pick. Among the names that had been doing the rounds to replace Tirath Singh Rawat, who had to step down after just four months as CM, were several more senior MLAs including Cabinet ministers, former CMs and parliamentarians.

As president of the state BJP youth wing, Dhami had staged protests against unemployment.