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Pushkar Singh Dhami is an Indian politician and a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He was appointed as the 10th Chief Minister of Uttarakhand on 3 July 2021 and took the oath on 4 July 2021.
Wiki/Biography
Pushkar Singh Dhami was born on Tuesday, 16 September 2021 (age 46 years; as of 2021) in Pithoragarh, Uttarakhand. His zodiac sign is Virgo. He completed his LLB from Lucknow University, Lucknow, and then completed his postgraduation in human relations management and industrial relations.
Physical Appearance
Height (approx.): 5′ 10″
Eye Colour: Black
Hair Colour: Black
Family & Caste
Pushkar Singh Dhami belongs to a Thakur family.
Parents
Pushkar’s father’s name is Sher Singh Dhami. He was a retired army officer. His mother’s name is Vishna Devi.
Wife & Children
Pushkar Singh Dhami got married to Geeta on 5 February 2011. Pushkar and Geeta have two sons.
Career
Student Politics
Pushkar Singh has been an active participant in politics since his college days. He started his political career in 1990 by joining the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of RSS. He has also served in Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in various positions over the years.
Mainstream Politics
In 2001, Pushkar Singh was serving as the Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to Bhagat Singh Koshiyari who was serving his tenure as the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand. He was the vice-chairman of urban monitoring committee in the state. In 2002, he became the first president of BJP’s Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) in Uttarakhand and held the position for two terms i.e. till 2008. In 2012, Pushkar Singh was appointed as the Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Khatima tehsil, and in 2017, he was relected as the MLA for the same tehsil. He was also the vice-president for BJP Uttarakhand. On 3 July 2021, he was appointed as the 10th Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, and on 4 July 2021, he took the oath and assumed the office.
In March 2022, he was defeated by Congress’ Bhuwan Kapri in the Uttarakhand assembly election by nearly 7,000 votes in the Khatima constituency. On 23 March 2022, he took oath as the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand for the second time; his sworn-in ceremony was attended by many prominent members of the BJP including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Ministers Nitin Gadkari, and Amit Shah. On 3 June 2022, Dhami retained the Champawat seat after he won the bypoll by over 55,000 votes. On 13 June 2022, he took the oath as a member of the Uttarakhand Assembly in Dehradun.
Controversy
With the news of Pushkar Singh Dhami’s appointment as the 10th Chief Minister of Uttarakhand came out in the news, a tweet from 2015 resurfaced that was made by Dhami on 14 August 2015. In the tweet, there was a picture of the map of India along with neigbouring countries and they all were coloured in saffron colour. The picture also had a picture of Bharat Mata in the middle and ‘Akhand Bharat’ was written on it and it was posted with the caption ‘Akhand Bharat- the desire of every Rashtrabhakt.’ After this tweet stirred up a controversy, some people tried to defend Dhami by supporting the tweet and it’s message, some people on the other hand started criticizing the tweet and Dhami’s ideology. Former IAS officer, Jawhar Sircar, posted the tweet on his Twitter account and opposed the appointment of of Dhami as the CM. He further added that BJP should appoint Pushkar as the foreign minister so that he can drive the country into the Third World War with his ideologies.
Shouldn’t BJP be making this man Foreign Minister of India rather than CM of a tiny state like Uttarakhand? Then, we can all move to 3rd World War! pic.twitter.com/7wkaDq5Y7u
— Jawhar Sircar (@jawharsircar) July 4, 2021
Assets & Properties
Moveable Assets
- Bank Deposits: Rs. 13.45 lakhs
- NSS, Postal Savings: Rs. 1.61 lakhs
- LIC or other insurance policies: Rs. 15.09 lakhs
- Jewellery: Rs. 3.36 lakhs
- Other assets: Rs. 2.40 lakhs
Net Worth
Pushkar Singh Dhami’s net worth is Rs. 49.15 lakhs according to the affidavit submitted by him before the 2017 elections for the position of MLA.
Facts/Trivia
- Pushkar Singh Dhami was appointed as the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand and along with him, there were eleven more ministers who were sworn in as the cabinet ministers. These eleven ministers were Harak Singh Rawat, Bishan Singh Chufal, Subodh Uniyal, Bansidhar Bhagat, Ganesh Joshi, Yatishwaranand, Rekha Arya, Dhan Singh Rawat, Satpal Maharaj, Yashpal Arya, and Arvind Pandey.
BJP MLA Pushkar Singh Dhami sworn-in as the next Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, at a programme in Raj Bhawan, Dehradun pic.twitter.com/FFQcbU0gQ0
— ANI (@ANI) July 4, 2021
- The oath taking ceremony was carried out at the Raj Bhawan in Dehradun under the guidance of governor Baby Rani Maurya.
- On the occasion of Dhami’s appointment as the Chief Minister, the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi made a tweet from his Twitter account to congratulate him for taking up the oath.
Congratulations to Shri @pushkardhami and all others who took oath today. Best wishes to this team as they work towards the progress and prosperity of Uttarakhand.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 4, 2021
- Several sources have claimed that Pushkar Singh Dhami was appointed as the Chief Minister because of his association with the Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.
- In an interview with a newspaper, a close friend of Pushkar Singh Dhami informed that Dhami was aware of the final decision before it was made official. He further added-
Dhami was summoned to Delhi by the BJP leadership 4-5 days back. He was conveyed about the party’s decision by president J.P. Nadda. He also met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and other party leaders on the same day.”
- Former Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, Trivendra Singh Rawat came forward to give his best wishes to Pushkar Singh Dhami and said-
We’re sure that Uttarakhand will attain new heights of development in the coming period under his leadership.”
- In March 2021, Tirath Singh Rawat was appointed as the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, however, his tenure lasted only four months due to some electoral complications. After his appointment, Rawat had six months to be selected as a member of the legislative assembly to serve the rest of the time as CM, but the Election Commission of India (ECI) decided to cancel the bypolls as the assembly term was ending in less than a year. This made Rawat ineligible for the post and he gave in his resignation on 2 July 2021.