Sunday, 20 March 2022 | PNS | Dehradun
The suspense over the new chief minister of Uttarakhand is getting longer with the crucial meeting of the legislature party of Bharatiya Janata Party which was earlier expected on Sunday being postponed. Intense lobbying by different factions of party leaders for the top slot is said to be the reason behind the delay. In the continuing game of pressure politics the caretaker chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, the BJP State president Madan Kaushik and former chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat arrived in Delhi on Saturday to meet the central leaders of the party. In view of the continuing logjam the meeting of the legislature party expected on Sunday has been postponed. This meeting is now expected to be held on Monday or Tuesday. The swearing in of the new government which was expected on Monday can now get delayed by two to three days. The party’s state spokesman Vinod Suyal told The Pioneer that a meeting of the party organisation was held in which discussions were held on making the swearing in ceremony a grand affair. He said that the legislature party meeting is expected on March 21 or 22.
It is learnt that to avoid a situation of constitutional crisis the protem speaker Banshidhar Bhagat can administer oaths to the newly elected MLAs on Monday.
The state unit of the BJP has directed all its newly elected MLAs to remain in Dehradun for the meeting of the legislature party. The parliamentary board of the BJP has appointed Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Union minister of state Meenakshi Lekhi as central observers for the meeting.
The names of the caretaker CM Dhami, Rajya Sabha MP Anil Baluni, former CM Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, union minister of state Ajay Bhatt, cabinet ministers Satpal Maharaj, Dhan Singh Rawat, Banshidhar Bhagat, Rekha Arya, BJP State president Madan Kaushik, Prem Chand Agarwal and Kotdwar MLA Ritu Khanduri are making rounds in the political circles as the possible choice of party high command for the CM of the state.
