From an obscure RSS pracharak for Dehradun city to the chief ministership of Uttarakhand, it has been an long journey for Trivendra Singh Rawat whose fierce loyalty to the BJP and RSS saw him pip rival heavyweights like Satpal Maharaj.

Coupled with his administrative and organisational skills and experience, his loyalty to the party and RSS ideology seemed to have won the day for him.

So impressed was Home Minister Rajnath Singh with his unflinching devotion that while asking people to vote for Rawat, he had said, “Trivendra Singh Rawat ‘ne kabhi apni nishtha nahin badli’ (Rawat never switched loyalty).”

The ringing endorsement by the fellow Thakur leader from neighbouring Uttar Pradesh seems to have worked for Rawat, 56, who wrested the Doiwala seat from the Congress with an impressive margin of 24,869 votes to win it for the third time.

His organisational skills were put to test in Jharkhand where he came out with flying colours, guiding the BJP to a resounding electoral victory in the Assembly polls as party in-charge.

Rawat also has considerable administrative experience as he was a minister in the BJP governments led by B C Khanduri and Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank.

Born in December 1960 into a family where serving in the armed forces was a tradition, with his father Pratap Singh Rawat in Garhwal Rifles, he studied in a school built of mud and thatch in his native village of Khairasain in Pauri Garhwal district.