Tirath Singh Rawat to be new Uttarakhand chief minister, will take oath at 4 pm today

Pauri Garhwal MP Tirath Singh Rawat will take over as the chief minister of Uttarakhand on Wednesday, a day after Trivendra Singh Rawat’s resignation on Tuesday. Tirath Singh was chosen as the leader of Uttarakhand BJP legislature party and his name was announced by outgoing chief minister after the legislature party meeting, which lasted around 30 minutes, reported news agency PTI. According to an Indian Express report, Tirath Singh held the post of the first education minister of newly formed state of Uttarakhand. He also served as the state general secretary of Uttarakhand, and after that state chief electoral officer and state membership chief. Tirath Singh was the state BJP president from 2013-2015 and is currently the party’s national secretary. He was also an MLA from Chaubattakhal constituency from 2012-17. His choice by the BJP comes as a surprise as he was not among the favourites.  Among the other names doing the rounds were Dhan Singh Rawat, Ajay Bhatt and Anil Baluni. According to a Times of India report, Tirath Singh will be sworn in at 4 pm today. This comes a day after  Trivendra Singh submitted his resignation to Governor Baby Rani Maurya at Raj Bhawan, amid complaints from a section of Uttarakhand BJP MLAs over his “style of governance.” With inputs from PTI