Pushkar Singh Dhami takes oath as Uttarakhand CM
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Ministers Nitin Gadkari, Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah attended Mr Dhami's swearing-in ceremony.
Dehradun: Pushkar Singh Dhami takes oath as the chief minister of Uttarakhand for a second term here on Wednesday at Dehradun's Parade Ground in the presence of the top BJP brass.
Eight ministers were sworn in along with Mr Dhami. Five of them - Satpal Maharaj, Subodh Uniyal, Dhan Singh Rawat, Rekha Arya, Ganesh Joshi - took oath for the second consecutive term.
Uttar Pradesh CM designate, Yogi Adityanath, Goa CM designate, Pramod Sawant and Union Minister of state, Meenakshi Lekhi were also present at the grand event.
There are three first-timers - Chandan Ram Das, Saurabh Bahuguna, Prem Chand Aggarwal.
After much dilly-dallying, the BJP central leadership has chosen Dhami for the second term despite his defeat in the Assembly elections.
Dhami is close confident of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and RSS loyalists selected for the second term. The BJPLP has elected him as legislative party leader on Monday in presence of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Union Minister of State for External Affairs Meenakshi Lekhi.
The BJP won 47 seats in the 70-member Assembly in the recently concluded state elections. With this, the BJP has become the first party ever in Uttarakhand's 21-year-old history to return to power in consecutive elections.
