Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat resigned as the Chief Minister on Tuesday, one year ahead of the state's Assembly elections. Complaints against Rawat from a section of MLAs, including many heavyweights who had joined it quitting the Congress, about his indifference to their concerns and also the fact that his public image remained unimpressive, is touted as one of the foremost reasons for a change in leadership.
Here is a list of persons who are key frontrunners for the post of Uttarakhand CM:
Dhan Singh Rawat
Dhan Singh Rawat belongs to the influential Thakur community and is the Minister of State for Higher Studies in Trivendra Singh Rawat's Cabinet. He is an MLA from the Srinagar constituency in the Pauri district for the first time.
In January 2020, Rawat courted controversy after he said that mobile phones should be banned in colleges after making a claim that they were an impediment to the concentration of students. He also went on to suggest that the government should install jammers in colleges as a way to prevent mobile phone usage.
Dhan Singh is among the frontrunners to replace Trivendra Singh because they both come from the same caste. Caste equations play an important role in the state with Thakurs and Brahmins being the dominant communities in the state's politics with a combined vote bank of about 80 per cent.
Ajay Bhatt
Bhatt is a Lok Sabha MP from the Nainital–Udhamsingh Nagar constituency. He defeated former chief minister and top Congress leader Harish Rawat by a margin of nearly 3.4 lakh votes in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The constituency was considered a Congress stronghold till Bhatt was elected.
During the Congress rule, Bhatt held the position of the Leader of Opposition and was active in state politics before becoming an MP. In earlier stints of the BJP, Bhatt also held several Cabinet portfolios and is widely regarded as a senior BJP leader in the state. In the 2017 state Assembly elections, Bhatt lost his seat to Congress's Karan Mahra, but BJP's previous victory in the polls is attributed to his leadership among other reasons.
Bhatt is a lawyer by training and has been associated with the BJP since his time in education.
Also Read | Will Dhan Singh Rawat be Uttarakhand's next CM?
Anil Baluni
Baluni was a journalist before he became a politician with the BJP and is now a Rajya Sabha MP from Uttarakhand. He is also a national spokesperson for the saffron party and is considered close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.
Baluni lost twice from the Kotdwar constituency in state Assembly elections and in the state's first-ever election in 2002, his nomination was rejected by the state election commission. He also fought the 2005 bypolls from the constituency but lost to Congress's Surendra Singh Negi.
Anil Baluni is currently is known to manage the media engagements of Amit Shah and the Prime Minister.
Pokhriyal is the Union Minister for Education and hails from Dehradun district and is currently an MP representing Haridwar constituency in the Lok Sabha. He is also considered among the top contenders for the post.
The union minister is highly educated with an MA, PhD and D. Litt from Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University in Uttarakhand.
He served five consecutive terms as an MLA in undivided Uttar Pradesh and later in Uttarakhand between 1991 and 2012. Between 2009 and 2011, he served as the state's CM. In 2014, he resigned as an MLA and entered national politics and was made a Cabinet minister in 2019, and is considered to have the most administrative and political experience in the state.
Satpal Maharaj
Maharaj is the Tourism Minister of the state and is seen as a prominent contender.
A former Congress heavyweight, Maharaj joined the BJP in 2014 after losing the race for chief ministership to Harish Rawat. Maharaj is an MLA from Chaubattakhal in Pauri district. He is also a spiritual guru having admirers across the country. The 69-year-old had been a Congress MP from Pauri in the past.
The BJP is yet to make an official announcement on the replacement for Rawat and the state's BJP legislature party meet is currently under way to choose a new chief minister.
According to PTI, the name of Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari is also doing the rounds. Koshyari had held the Uttarkhand chief minister's post briefly after Nityanand Swami. He has also represented the state both in the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha.