After poll win, BJP weighs CM options in Uttarakhand

BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya told DH that the selection of a CM candidate will be a long-winded process

The BJP on Friday took a much-needed break from its organisational efforts, a day after it registered a spectacular win in Assembly elections and retained governments in four states, two of which were known to not repeat parties in power.

Yet, behind the calm, the churnings have started — the party swung into action in the hill state of Uttarakhand where its sitting Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami lost from the Khatima seat.

In two other states — Uttar Pradesh and Manipur — the BJP is set to repeat its chief ministerial faces.

Also Read | Pushkar Singh Dhami resigns as Uttarakhand CM along with his cabinet

It was the first Assembly election for UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his re-election has set a record — he is the first CM to return to power after completing a tenure of five years. Adityanath has been a five-term MP from Gorakhpur.

In Manipur, under Chief Minister Biren Singh, this is the second time that the party has won an election on its own without the help of alliance partners. The BJP is in power in Arunachal Pradesh alone, too.

Senior party leaders Union ministers Piyush Goyal and Dharmendra Pradhan were sent to Uttarakhand as observers. A few days ahead of the results, the party had dispatched poll strategist Kailash Vijayvargiya to handle the post-election situation if there was a hung Assembly in the state.

Vijayvargiya told DH that the selection of a CM candidate will be a long-winded process. “The party’s senior leaders who are now in Uttarakhand will first call for a deliberation with the elected legislators. The names that they put forward will be taken up by the party leadership," he said.

The BJP has had a spate of bad luck with the CM face in Uttarakhand. The party won the elections in 2017 and Doiwala MLA Trivendra Singh Rawat was appointed the CM on March 18, 2017. His unpopularity among party workers led to party president J P Nadda asking him to resign in March 2021, barely a year ahead of Assembly polls.

He was replaced by Tirath Singh Rawat, who was then the MP from Garhwal. Rawat had to leave the chair four months later in July, as he could not contest the bypoll from the Salt Assembly seat, needed to continue as the CM. He was down with Covid-19.

The party fought the elections under Dhami, who was appointed after Tirath Singh Rawat. It won 47 seats in the 70-member Assembly with a 44.3% vote share.

With Dhami’s loss this term, the party is looking for a new face. A senior party leader involved with the election process said that about five names are being considered. State ministers Dhan Singh Rawat and Satpal Maharaj, Rajya Sabha MP Anil Baluni, Union Minister of State Ajay Bhatt and former chief minister and current Union Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank are some of the names in contention for the post.

In Goa, while the perception is that the party will go ahead with sitting Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, there is speculation that Vishwajit Rane might replace him. A Union minister who wished to remain unnamed said that observers have been sent to the state and the party’s parliamentary committee will hold a meeting soon.

Senior party leaders also said that the BJP is unlikely to form governments or organise oath-taking in either of the states before the festival of Holi on March 18, as they consider the time inauspicious for new beginnings.

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