Caretaker CM Dhami, BJP state president Kaushik, Premchand Agarwal, MPs & other leaders camping in Delhi
Wednesday, 16 March 2022 | PNS | Dehradun
The fulcrum of the ongoing political activity in Uttarakhand shifted to the national capital New Delhi on Tuesday with almost all the top leaders of ruling BJP from Uttarakhand converging there. Most of the State’s newly elected MLAs from the BJP are also camping in Delhi. Intense lobbying is going on in the power corridors in New Delhi by different aspirants for the post of chief minister of Uttarakhand. Similarly many MLAs are trying to secure the support of the central leaders to buttress their claim for a place in the state cabinet.
On Tuesday, the caretaker CM Pushkar Singh Dhami and the BJP State president Madan Kaushik were summoned by the central leaders. Both these leaders are expected to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home minister Amit Shah and national president of the party JP Nadda in Delhi. Apart from formation of the new government the central leaders would also take feedback from the duo about the recently concluded elections. On Tuesday evening Dhami and Rajya Sabha MP Anil Baluni met the Union Home minister Amit Shah.
Apart from Dhami and Kaushik the speaker of the outgoing assembly Prem Chand Agarwal also landed in New Delhi on Tuesday fuelling speculations that he too has joined the ongoing race for the coveted position of CM. He met the Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and discussed the recent elections held in Uttarakhand.
Cabinet minister and heavyweight Satpal Maharaj too has been camping in Delhi for the last five days. Cabinet ministers Ganesh Joshi, Subodh Uniyal, Rekha Arya, Arvind Pandey and Bishan Singh Chufal too have met the party high command in New Delhi. The ministers and MLAs are meeting Nadda and national general secretary organisation BL Santosh in Delhi.
It is worth mentioning here that there are at least a dozen such MLAs in the BJP who have been elected for third term this time. These MLAs are said to be lobbying for a place in the state cabinet and also giving feedback to the central leadership on the recent elections.
Earlier, on Monday the central parliamentary board of BJP had appointed Union Defence minister Rajnath Singh and Union minister of State for External Affairs Meenakshi Lekhi as the central observers for the meeting of the BJP’s legislature party in Uttarakhand. This crucial meeting is expected on March 19 in Dehradun.
With each passing day the list of the aspirants for the post of CM is growing long in Uttarakhand. The list now includes Dhami, Rajya Sabha MP Anil Baluni, former CM Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Union minister of State Ajay Bhatt, cabinet ministers Satpal Maharaj, Dhan Singh Rawat, state BJP president Madan Kaushik, Prem Chand Agarwal and Kotdwar MLA Ritu Khanduri.
