Summary:
Dehradun, Mar 23 (PTI) Pushkar Singh Dhami on Wednesday took oath as the Uttarakhand chief minister, beginning his second term with a ceremony at which eight other members of his new cabinet were also sworn in.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several top BJP leaders attended the swearing-in, taking place nearly two weeks after the assembly election results.
Though the Bharatiya Janata Party returned to power with a strong mandate in the hill state – bagging 47 of the 70 seats in the results declared on March 10 – Dhami failed to win from his own Khatima constituency.
He now needs to be elected as an MLA within six months to continue as chief minister.
The BJP MLAs who took oath as ministers at Parade Ground ceremony are Satpal Maharaj, Dhan Singh Rawat, Subodh Uniyal, Premchand Agarwal, Rekha Arya, Ganesh Joshi, Chandan Ram Das and Saurabh Bahuguna.
Except former CM Vijay Bahuguna"s son Saurabh Bahuguna, Bageshwar MLA Chandan Ram Das and Rishikesh legislator Premchand Agarwal, they were part of the previous Dhami-led cabinet.