Rajya Sabha MP Mahendra Bhatt re-elected Uttarakhand BJP chief
He is the only BJP leader in the State, since its formation, to hold the position twice, and in a row. His victory, however, was a foregone conclusion as he was the only candidate to file the nomination for the post.
A native of Chamoli and a two-time MLA from Nandprayag and Badrinath, respectively, Mr. Bhatt said he would continue to work on strengthening the party in the State. He first took over as the BJP's chief in Uttarakhand in 2022, succeeding Madan Kaushik.
Political observers see the re-election of Mr. Bhatt as the BJP's Uttarakhand president as a decision to please the party's Brahmin vote bank, which has objected to the party's choice of Chief Ministers since long. The State, since the BJP came to power in 2017, has had three Chief Ministers, all of them Thakurs.
This time too, the saffron party has chosen a Chief Minister from the Thakur community, and the president of the State unit from the Brahmin community, to please the two communities that constitute over half the voters in the State. Prior to Mr. Bhatt's appointment as the BJP president for Uttarakhand, and Mr. Dhami as the Chief Minister, the party had Tirath Rawat and Madan Kaushik, and Trivendra Rawat and Bansidhar Bhagat as CM and State president, respectively.
The BJP's central observer Harsh Malhotra announced Mr. Bhatt's re-election. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and senior party leaders, including State in-charge Dushyant Gautam, were present on the occasion. Mr. Bhatt thanked the party's central leadership for reposing faith in him.
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