By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 23 Mar: Pushkar Singh Dhami took oath as the 12th Chief Minister of Uttarakhand in a grand ceremony held at Parade Ground this afternoon. Along with Dhami, eight ministers also took oath of office.
The ceremony was witnessed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP President JP Nadda, central ministers including Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari, amongst others. Governor Lt Gen Gurmit Singh (Retd) administered the oath of office and secrecy to all at the swearing-in ceremony held at the Parade Ground here. In all, eight ministers took oath. Satpal Maharaj was the first to take oath after Dhami. He was followed by Premchand Agarwal, Ganesh Joshi, Dhan Singh Rawat, Subodh Uniyal, Rekha Arya, Chandan Ram Das and Saurabh Bahuguna.
This time, three new faces have joined the cabinet. Ministers from the previous cabinet who could not make it this time included Bishan Singh Chufal, Banshidhar Bhagat and Arvind Pandey.
Pushkar Singh Dhami took oath as the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand for the second time. With the state getting its head, today some myths have been smashed in the politics of Uttarakhand. Pushkar Singh Dhami showered flowers on the seers present on this occasion and took their blessings before taking oath as the Chief Minister.
It was perhaps the grandest ever political gathering on the stage in the history of Uttarakhand. PM Modi was the Chief Guest on the occasion. The swearing-in ceremony began at 2.30 p.m., but before that there was confusion about who would be in the cabinet. A meeting was held at the CM’s residence in the morning, after which eight names were confirmed to be sworn in today. BJP added a new chapter in the political history of Uttarakhand by announcing the appointment of Ritu Khanduri, daughter of former CM BC Khanduri, as its candidate for Vidhan Sabha Speaker. She will be the first woman Speaker of the state. After the meeting at the residence concluded, everyone reached the oath ceremony venue.
In this mega event, Chief Ministers of all BJP ruled states including UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Himachal Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, Assam CM Himanta Biswas, Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel and Tripura CM Biplab Deb were also present. In addition, Home Minister Amit Shah and central ministers Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Pralhad Joshi, Meenakshi Lekhi were amongst those present. BJP President JP Nadda was also present. A large number of people along with the VIP guests reached the Parade Ground for the swearing-in ceremony.
The swearing-in ceremony began as soon as Prime Minister Modi arrived at 2.30 p.m. Former CM Vijay Bahuguna’s son Saurabh Bahuguna has become MLA for the second time from Sitarganj. He is the third generation of the HN Bahuguna family in politics. Rekha Arya again arrived in traditional attire today. Satpal Maharaj wore a turban.
After the taking of the oath, Prime Minister Narendra Modi greeted the entire cabinet. Prem Chand Agarwal took oath in Sanskrit. Prime Minister Narendra Modi returned to Delhi as soon as the swearing-in was over.
Interestingly, slogans of ‘Bulldozer Baba’ were raised as soon as UP CM Yogi Adityanath arrived at the swearing-in programme. After the ceremony, Yogi Adityanath met the seers present, who honoured him on this occasion. These included Shankaracharyas from various Mutts.
