Pauri Garhwal MP Tirath Singh Rawat was on Wednesday chosen as the leader of the Uttarakhand BJP legislature party, paving the way for his becoming the new chief minister of the hill state.
Acting CM Trivendra Singh Rawat proposed the name of Tirath Singh Rawat in the legislature meeting of the party in Dehradun, which lasted for some 30 minutes.
Following this the MLAs, MPs, and central observers supported the motion and he was selected to be the CM of the hill state.
"It was all predecided by the central leadership. One can see how acting CM moved a motion and was unanimously supported by everyone including the central observers. And then Trivendra Singh Rawat announced the name in front of the media. This meeting was just a formality, " said a party source.
Who is Tirath Singh Rawat?
At present Lok Sabha MP from Pauri Garhwal constituency and national secretary of the Bhartiya Janta Party, Rawat is known as someone who rose to the highest ranks of the saffron party from its grassroots level.
He was Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh pracharak from 1983-88 and then became state vice-president of Bhartiya Janta Yuva Morcha of erstwhile Uttar Pradesh.
In the year 1997, he was selected as a member of the legislative council of erstwhile Uttar Pradesh and further as the council president.
After Uttarakhand's formation in 2000, he was the first Education Minister of the hill state.
In the year 2007, he was general secretary of the BJP's Uttarakhand unit and was elected for the state legislative assembly in 2012.
Rawat was later appointed as the state BJP president in 2013.
As a state BJP president, he is credited with 2014 Lok Sabha wins in Uttarakhand.
He won his first Lok Sabha elections in the 2019 general elections from Pauri Garhwal and defeated his nearest rival Manish Khanduri by more than 03.50 lakh votes.
(With Agencies Inputs)