For the post of Chief Minister in Uttarakhand, the Bharatiya Janata Party has once again expressed confidence in Pushkar Singh Dhami. Here, experts believe that it will be an important task for Dhami, who lost in the assembly elections, to rebuild his credibility in the region. Dhami, who was the youngest CM of the state, was defeated by Bhuvan Kapri of Congress by 6 thousand 579 votes from Khatima seat. However, even before this, BJP leaders have won this seat twice in a row.
In just four months, the Chief Minister was changed thrice in the state. In such a situation, even in the midst of the COVID epidemic, Dhami has succeeded in building people’s trust in the government. According to BJP’s state media in-charge Manveer Singh Chouhan, about half a dozen MLAs have offered to give up their seats for Dhami. Most of them are from Kumaon region. He said that Dhami will have to ensure that he wins a fresh by-election to become a member of the assembly, so that the CM remains in office.
Political expert SMA Kazmi said, “The Khatima seat, from where Dhami, who has won two consecutive terms, will have to rebuild his credibility as a people’s leader after losing the election. But in his home district, Udham Singh Nagar, the BJP’s seats have halved from eight to four.
“In the next five years, he will have to strengthen the party in his home district, so that the losses in this election can be avoided next time,” he said.
According to MM Semwal, Professor of Political Science at Garhwal University, Dhami had to bear the brunt of the issues that dominated the state in the past four-and-a-half years, during his six-month tenure before the elections. After assuming office in July last year, he was seen as the one who cleaned up the mess created by the two former chief ministers and stabilized the government.
what will be the issues
According to Semwal, unemployment, hill migration, poor connectivity and inadequate health services in many parts of the state will be some of the main challenges for the CM. Apart from this, he will also have to rebuild the economy of the state especially dependent on tourism, which has been affected due to COVID in the last two years. “Dhami will have to ensure that he fulfills the promises made in the manifesto. These include 3 thousand rupees per month to specially trained unemployed youth, 6 thousand rupees pension and 5 lakh rupees insurance for laborers working in the unorganized sector, three free LPG cylinders to below poverty line families and farmers under Kisan Samman Nidhi. An additional Rs 2,000 is included.
“The announcement to implement the Uniform Civil Code in the state two days before the polling and how they will do this work in a state with 13.9 per cent Muslim population will be a big challenge for them as it can create many problems,” he said.
The special thing is that Dhami, who was ready to hold the top post in the state, never held a ministerial post. Being a Thakur leader, he must also ensure that he establishes a good image among the party cadre and the people of other areas.