Pushkar Singh Dhami, who was elected as the leader of BJP legislature party on Saturday, will be sworn in as the 11th Chief Minister of Uttarakhand. A two-time MLA from Khatima in Udham Singh Nagar district, Dhami will replace Tirath Singh Rawat who had resigned on Friday night after a constitutional crisis occurred over his election to the state Assembly. The 45-year-old was elected MLA from Khatima for the first time in 2012 and the second time in 2017. At present, he is also BJP’s state vice-president. Born in Pithoragarh district in 1975, Dhami has worked in different positions in the RSS and its affiliate bodies for 33 years. He was also a member of the ABVP for 10 years, during which time he worked in the Awadh Prant region of Uttar Pradesh. He had been the president of BJP’s Uttarakhand Yuva Morcha twice, from 2002 to 2008. Dhami had served as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to Bhagat Singh Koshiyari when he was the chief minister in 2001-2002. He also held the post of vice-chairman (with state minister rank) of the urban monitoring committee in the state. Dhami is a law graduate in human resource management and industrial relations. Party insiders described Dhami as a young and active leader but said he has a challenging task ahead of him to fulfil the aspirations of the party in the state within a short span of time for which he would be at the helm. Since Dhami hails from the Thakur community from the hill region, the BJP, by choosing him as the next CM, has tried to balance caste and regional equations ahead of the polls next year. In Uttarakhand, votes are divided on three factors—Kumaon versus Garhwal regions, Thakurs versus Brahmins, and hills versus plains. For instance, BJP state president Madan Kaushik is a Brahmin from Haridwar, which is a plain area in Garhwal. Outgoing CM Tirath Singh Rawat is a Thakur but from the Garhwal region.
