Trivendra Singh Rawat, Who Takes Charge As Uttarakhand Chief Minister Today, Faces First Challenge

Dehradun: The BJP's Trivendra Singh Rawat, who had been a long-time RSS pracharak, will take oath as the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand today. Mr Rawat, who had worked closely with party chief Amit Shah during the 2014 national election, has many years of experience as a minister. His name was proposed by BJP leader Prakash Pant and seconded by Satpal Maharaj - the two BJP men were also in the race for the post. Mr Rawat will be sworn in as Uttarakhand Chief Minister today at Dehradun's Parade Ground. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah have reached city to attend the swearing-in ceremony. Mr Rawat will be the ninth Chief Minister of the hill state. After Mr Pant and Mr Maharaj's proposal, the remaining 54 Bharatiya Janata Party legislators unanimously approved Mr Rawat's candidature.

A former associate of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Trivendra Rawat was Agriculture Minister in the previous BJP government in Uttarakhand, which was carved out of Uttar Pradesh in 2000.
 
Addressing the media yesterday, Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said, "Trivendra Singh Rawat has been elected as the leader of the BJP Legislature Party. The proposal was accepted unanimously." Mr Tomar also said that Mr Rawat later met Governor Krishan Kant Paul and staked claim to form the new government. The BJP has won 57 of Uttarkhand's 70 seats in a total rout of the Congress, which ruled the state for the last five year.

Elected from Doiwala, where he defeated Congress' Hira Singh Bisht with a margin of over 24,000 votes, Mr Rawat is widely regarded in the party for his organisational skills. Besides being closely associated with Narendra Modi when he was a BJP General Secretary, Mr Rawat also worked with Amit Shah as his deputy in Uttar Pradesh during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. That was when the BJP and its ally Apna Dal created history by sweeping 73 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh.
 
Mr Rawat, a Thakur, is largely credited with the BJP win in Jharkhand where he oversaw the party's assembly elections in 2014.

Mr Rawat will be the fifth BJP chief minister in Uttarakhand. The party formed its first government in the state when it was carved out of Uttar Pradesh in 2000 with Nityanand Swami as the first Chief Minister.

The first challenge that stares Uttarakhand chief minister-designate Trivendra Singh Rawat in the face is how to chose his Cabinet with a number of newly-elected party MLAs eyeing ministerial berths. Though there is no word officially from the BJP yet on the ministers to be sworn-in along with the chief minister today, quite a few names are doing the rounds, including those of Yashpal Arya, Satpal Maharaj, Harak Singh Rawat, Harbans Kapoor, Madan Kaushik, Munna Singh Chauhan, Kunwar Pranav Singh Champion, Subodh Uniyal and Rekha Arya.

Sorting out the issue may be a tricky affair for Mr Rawat, as the limit for the size of the Cabinet is only 12 including the chief minister, and aspirants for ministerial berths are far too many including old party loyalists as well as the Congress turncoats who were ministers in Harish Rawat's Cabinet and won this time on BJP tickets.

(With inputs from PTI and IANS)