Team News Riveting
Dehradun, March 10
The BJP Member of Parliament from Pauri, Tirath Singh Rawat will be the new Chief Minister of Uttarakhand.
The 56-year-old former Pracharak of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) would be sworn-in as the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand today evening. The election of a new legislature party leader was necessitated following resignation of Trivendra Singh Rawat, who put in his papers on Tuesday.
Tirath Singh Rawat stands as an example of how fortune smiles on leaders. The man who was denied ticket to contest assembly elections in 2017 (the current term of assembly) would become the Chief Minister in the same tenure.
Rawat, who belongs to Sinro village in Pauri, was elected from the Chhobattakhal assembly seat in 2012. But the BJP denied him a ticket in the next assembly polls in 2017 and instead chose to field former Congress heavyweight Satpal Maharaj. Though known as a mild-mannered politician, the party’s decision left Rawat slighted and prompted him to openly protest against the high command and threatened to resign.
The BJP’s central leadership pacified him soon by elevating him to the position of the party’s national secretary. Later, he was fielded from Pauri in the 2019 general election. He won the election by a thumping margin of over 3 lakh votes and bagging over 68 per cent share.
Rawat rose from the ranks as a student leader and was elected as the member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council in 1997 before being chosen as president of the UP Legislative Council. He had served as the BJP’s Uttarakhand general secretary in 2007 and was made the BJP’s state unit chief in 2013.
With less than a year to go for the state polls, Tirath Singh Rawat had a big challenge ahead.
