Gajendra Singh Negi/ Dehradun
With his eyes firmly set on the crucial Vidhan Sabha election of 2027, chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has tried to balance regional and caste equations in the expansion of his cabinet on Friday. In the expansion, the CM has picked up two ministers, veteran Madan Kaushik and Pradeep Batra from Haridwar district which sends the highest number of MLAs ( 11) in the State Vidhan Sabha. In his second tenure, Haridwar was hitherto unrepresented in the Dhami cabinet. The focus of the CM on Haridwar is understandable because the opposition Congress is comparatively on a better ground in the district. In the current Vidhan Sabha, as many as six assembly constituencies out of 11 in Haridwar district are represented by Congress MLAs. The BJP has three MLAs while one seat each is represented by BSP and an independent (Umesh Kumar) in the district. Haridwar has a sizeable Muslim and scheduled caste population and by making two out of its three MLAs from the district as ministers, CM has tried to make political inroads into the district.
Similarly by picking up Pradeep Batra, the CM has tried to give a positive message to the influential Punjabi community settled in the State which has traditionally supported BJP in the elections. Punjabis have chunks of influence in Dehradun, Udham Singh Nagar, Nainital and Haridwar districts.
The CM has also tried to woo the Dalit community in the State by inducting Rajpur Road MLA and former cabinet minister Khajan Dass in his cabinet. Dalits constitute about 18-20 per cent of the State population. The elevation of Dass is also being viewed as a move to counter Yashpal Arya, who is a powerful Dalit leader and leader of opposition in Vidhan Sabha.
Chamoli and Rudraprayag, the two mountainous districts of Garhwal were hitherto unrepresented in Dhami cabinet and by inducting Bharat Singh Chaudhary, the CM has given representation to the area. The induction of Ram Singh Kaida representation of Nainital district has been given to the Dhami cabinet.
In terms of caste equation, Uttarakhand cabinet now has five Rajputs ( CM Pushkar Singh Dhami, Satpal Maharaj, Dhan Singh Rawat, Ram Singh Kaida and Bharat Singh Chaudhary, four Brahmins ( Subodh Uniyal, Madan Kaushik, Ganesh Joshi and Saurabh Bahuguna, two Dalits ( Rekha Arya and Khajan Dass) and one Punjabi ( Pradeep Batra).
