Change of CMs will have no impact on BJP's Uttarakhand polls prospects: CM Pushkar Dhami

Amid unease over BJP changing Chief Ministers twice in Uttarakhand, CM Pushkar Singh Dhami opined that this will have no impact in the upcoming Assembly elections. Administered the oath of office and secrecy by Uttarakhand Baby Rani Maurya at the Raj Bhavan in Dehradun on Sunday, he became the 3rd BJP CM to take charge since March after Trivendra Singh Rawat and Tirath Singh Rawat. Speaking to the media, he promised to take forward PM Modi's governance mantra in the state. He exuded confidence in BJP getting the support of people owing to the work done in the last five years. 

"No, it will have no impact. The BJP government has done a lot of work. We will take forward the mantra of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas and Sabka Vishwas mantra of Narendra Modi. The Central government and our government have done a lot of work in Uttarakhand. We will take this to the people," Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami said. 

Congress alleges 'target Mamata' plan

Peddling a new conspiracy theory, Congress alleged that BJP had asked Tirath Singh Rawat as Uttarakhand CM to resign to target West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee. Addressing a press briefing on July 3, Deputy Leader of Opposition in Uttarakhand Assembly Karan Mahara quashed Rawat's explanation that he put in his papers to avert a constitutional crisis. A sitting Lok Sabha member, Rawat had less than three months left to get elected to the state Assembly.

He was replaced by Pushkar Singh Dhami as the Election Commission was unlikely to conduct a by-election owing to the COVID-19 situation and the fact that less than a year is left for the Assembly polls. According to Mahara, the PM did not want to face a challenge from Banerjee who successfully led TMC to a third consecutive victory in West Bengal while losing from Nandigram. He contended that BJP was using Tirath Singh Rawat as a scapegoat to ensure that by-elections are not held in WB thereby forcing the TMC supremo to step down. 

Senior Congress leader Karan Mahara remarked, "The real issue is that the target is not Tirath but Mamata Banerjee. The way she has challenged the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi). We also know that the PM does not tolerate any challenge. We have seen what happened to LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi". He added, "The way (the Centre) misuses constitutional authorities, they will sacrifice Tirath to ensure that Mamata does not contest".