Pushkar Singh Dhami was on Monday elected as the chief minister of Uttarakhand for second term after BJP's legislature meeting concluded.
BJP's central observers for Uttarakhand Rajnath Singh, Meenakshi Lekhi and the party's poll incharge for the state, Pralhad Joshi, were present at the meeting, which began around 5 pm.
Defense Minister Rajnath Singh on Twitter made the announcement and congratulated Pushkar Dhami.
In a tweet in Hindi he wrote, "I extend my heartiest congratulations and best wishes to Mr @pushkardhami on being elected leader in the BJP Legislature Party meeting in Uttarakhand.
I am confident that under the guidance of Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi and under the leadership of Dhamiji, Uttarakhand will develop multidimensionally and at a very fast pace.
Before the meeting with newly elected MLAs began here, the party leaders from Delhi stopped at a hotel in the city to confabulate with senior state leaders, including caretaker CM Pushkar Singh Dhami and former Union minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank.
Rajnath and other central party leaders were received at the hotel by Dhami, Satpal Maharaj, Nishank and others.
Dhami under whose leadership the BJP had contested the February 14 Assembly polls in Uttarakhand is the frontrunner among around half a dozen names doing the rounds.
Chaubattakhal MLA Satpal Maharaj, Shrinagar MLA Dhan Singh Rawat and Rajya Sabha MP Anil Baluni were among people whose names were doing rounds.
The BJP's dilemma on the choice of a chief minister for Uttarakhand was caused by Dhami's loss in Khatima, a seat he had been winning since the 2012 Assembly polls.
However, a section of BJP leaders credit Dhami for the party's big win in the state Assembly polls and want him to be the chief minister again so that he gets a full five-year term to deliver on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of development for the state.
Dhami and state BJP president Madan Kaushik had attended a meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah at his residence on Sunday.
Former Uttarakhand chief ministers Nishank and Trivendra Singh Rawat had also attended the Sunday meeting with Shah after which Dhami had said the chief minister will be decided at the legislative party meeting in Dehradun on Monday.
The party which went to polls with Dhami as its chief ministerial candidate won 47 of 70 Assembly seats.
Dhami had been brought in as a replacement for Tirath Singh Rawat towards the fag end of its tenure in July 2021 and his contribution to the party's good electoral performance cannot be overlooked, political analysts said.
(with agency inputs)
