News Analysis India

Tag: Dhan Singh Rawat

  • BJP legislature party meeting starts to select new Uttarkhand CM, MP Ajay Bhatt says not in race

    By ANI
    DEHRADUN: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders on Wednesday arrived at the party office in Dehradun for the party’s legislature meeting.

    Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ will also participate in Uttarakhand BJP legislative party meeting in Dehradun later today.

    “We are looking for someone who can be made the chief minister,” said MLA Suresh Rathore.

    A new Chief Minister candidate is likely to be decided in the meeting following the resignation of Trivendra Singh Rawat resigned from the chief ministerial post.

    Dhan Singh Rawat, who is a minister of state in the Uttarakhand government is being considered as the frontrunner for the chief ministerial post.

    He is considered to be close to the RSS. BJP MPs Anil Baluni, Ajay Bhatt and Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank are the other contenders for the position.

    ALSO READ | With Trivendra Rawat ouster, BJP sends a clear message to its Chief Ministers

    Meanwhile, BJP MP Ajay Bhatt said that he is not in the race for Uttarakhand’s Chief Minister post.

    “I have done all the job assigned to me to benefit the people of the state and my party. I’m not part of any race,” said Bhatt on being asked if he is in the race for the Uttarakhand CM post.

    Rawat tendered his resignation after meeting governor Baby Rani Maurya on Tuesday, a year before Uttarkhand is scheduled to go to the polls.

    The BJP swept the elections in 2017, winning 57 seats in the 70-member Uttarakhand Assembly. Congress, on the other hand, won just 11 seats.

  • BJP to meet Wednesday to pick Trivendra Rawat’s replacement; multiple names in consideration

    By PTI
    DEHRADUN: Names of at least half a dozen leaders, including Dhan Singh Rawat, Bhagat Singh Koshyari, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and Satpal Maharaj, are doing the rounds to replace Trivendra Singh Rawat, who resigned as the chief minister of Uttarakhand on Tuesday.

    Though Trivendra Singh Rawat’s substitute will be decided at a state legislature party meeting at the BJP headquarters here on Wednesday under the watch of party national vice-president and former Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh, political circles are abuzz with speculations.

    Sources said state minister Dhan Singh Rawat has emerged as a frontrunner to be the next chief minister.

    A man known for his polite ways, 48-year-old Dhan Singh, a resident of Paithani village in Pauri district, is said to be close to the outgoing chief minister.

    Singh became an MLA for the first time in 2017.

    Tourism Minister Satpal Maharaj is also being looked at as a prominent contender.

    A former Congress heavyweight, Maharaj joined the BJP in 2014 after losing the race for chief ministership to Harish Rawat.

    Maharaj is an MLA from Chaubattakhal in Pauri district.

    He is also a spiritual guru having admirers across the country.

    The 69-year-old had been a Congress MP from Pauri in the past.

    Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank is another contender for the post.

    A former chief minister, Nishank is an MP from Haridwar.

    He was also a hill development minister in undivided Uttar Pradesh.

    The name of Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari is also doing the rounds.

    Koshyari had held the Uttarkhand chief minister’s post briefly after Nityanand Swami.

    He has also represented the state both in the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha.

    Names of BJP national spokesperson Anil Baluni and former state BJP president Ajay Bhatt are also in circulation.

    Baluni (50) is currently a Rajya Sabha member and his proximity with the central party leadership may help him get to the top office in the state.

    Bhatt represents the Nainital constituency in the Lok Sabha.

    He had defeated former chief minister Harish Rawat in Nainital in the 2019 general elections.

  • BJP mulls leadership change in Uttarakhand, minister Dhan Singh Rawat may become CM

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: With the BJP mulling a change of leadership in Uttarakhand, state minister Dhan Singh Rawat has emerged as a frontrunner to replace Trivendra Singh Rawat as chief minister.

    Ajay Bhatt and Anil Baluni, two senior leaders from the state who are members of Parliament, are being seen as two other strong probables for the top post. Sources said the party may also bring in a deputy chief minister, who will be from the Kumaon region.

    ALSO READ| Brief breather for Uttarakhand CM, crisis in state BJP still not over

    Uttarakhand: National vice president Dr Raman Singh to arrive in Dehradun soon to oversee change of guard, cabinet minister Dhan Singh Rawat’s name at the forefront for the next CM: Sources @NewIndianXpress @TheMornStandard
    — Vineet Upadhyay (@VineetTNIE) March 9, 2021

    The central BJP leadership recently sent two observers, party vice president Raman Singh and general secretary Dushayant Kumar Gautam, to Uttarakhand to get feedback from the party’s core group in the state amid reports of discontent against the chief minister.

  • Uttarakhand Minister Dhan Singh Rawat reveals mystery behind his name

    By PTI
    DEHRADUN: What is there in a name. So goes the old saying but if you ask Uttarakhand Minister Dhan Singh Rawat, there is an interesting story behind it.

    Sharing the story behind his name at a programme here, Rawat said he was named Dhan because his father had sent his mother a money order of Rs 50 on the day he was born.

    As the arrival of the money order coincided with his birth, he was named Dhan which means money, the minister said.