Pushkar Singh Dhami, the 45-year-old two-time MLA has become the youngest CM of the state of Uttarakhand, which is getting a third CM in less than five years despite the fact that BJP has a majority in the state. Although Dhami is new to electoral politics and fought his first election in 2012, he has worked for ABVP, the student wing of Sangh Parivar, and as an RSS worker for a long time.
Dhami was a student leader at Lucknow University from 1990 to 1999, Uttarakhand was yet to be formed. Later he joined state CM Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, the second CM of Uttarakhand, as an Officer on Special Duty (OSD). When BJP lost the election, he was appointed as the President of Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha and held the position till 2008.
In 2012, Dhami fought and won his first assembly election, and now, in less than 10 years of his career in electoral politics, he has become the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand
However, the real challenges for Dhami start now given the faction-ridden politics of the state and enormous power enjoyed by bureaucrats who sometimes bypass the elected government in the important decisions.
“His biggest challenge will be to manage bureaucrats in the state now who had free sail in the last four years,” said a senior leader.
Trivendra Singh Rawat, the former CM who was appointed after BJP won the election, has been in the media limelight for all wrong reasons like the government takeover of many Temple trusts. His government’s policies are also not very popular and he is reportedly seen as an arrogant man by the people of the state as well as other party leaders, just like former Jharkhand CM Raghubar Das – who lost the election to Hemant Soren.
Later Tirath Singh Rawat was appointed as his replacement but he could not survive even four months given a lack of administrative skills and statements on various issues which reportedly didn’t go down well with the masses. Moreover, Dinesh Mansera was appointed as media advisor to CM Tirath Singh Rawat and this led to a huge uproar in the BJP ecosystem.
For Dinesh Mansera, a new and exclusive post of “Media Advisor to the Chief Minister” was created in Uttarakhand, which was to be valid till 28 February 2022. The appointment of Mansera as media advisor to Chief Minister Tirath Rawat shocked many of the BJP’s supporters and well-wishers on social media and he was forced to step down.
Two CMs have lost the chair due to their lack of administrative skills, therefore, BJP has now trusted a person with more than three decades of experience in the party’s ecosystem and it will be interesting to see how far Dhami goes or how long he survives as the Uttarakhand CM.
