Rawat sworn in as Uttarakhand CM

DEHRADUN: BJP leader and longtime Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) activist Trivendra Singh Rawat on Saturday took over as the ninth Chief Minister of Uttarakhand. Rawat, 56, along with nine ministers — seven of Cabinet rank and two Ministers of State — was administered the oath of office by Governor Krishna Kant Paul here in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah.

Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, J P Nadda and Uma Bharti, and former Congress Chief Minister Harish Rawat were also present.

Incidentally, the majority of state Cabinet members are leaders who moved from the Congress to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The Cabinet Ministers are Satpal Maharaj, Madan Kaushik, Yashpal Arya, Harak Singh Rawat, Prakash Pant, Subodh Uniyal and Praveen Pandey.

Dhan Singh Rawat and Rekha Arya are Ministers of State. While Harak Singh Rawat, Yashpal Arya, Subodh Uniyal and Rekha Arya joined the BJP before the February 15 assembly elections, Satpal Maharaj joined the party in 2014. Trivendra Rawat is the fifth Bharatiya Janata Party Chief Minister of the hill state after it was carved out of Uttar Pradesh in 2000.

A former associate of Modi, Trivendra Rawat was Agriculture Minister in the previous BJP government in Uttarakhand.

Trivendra Rawat was elected leader of the BJP legislature party on Friday after the party won a landslide majority in the assembly elections, winning 57 of the 70 seats. The Congress got 11.

Both Modi and Shah exuded confidence that the Rawat government will usher in development in the state.