5 reasons BJP chose Trivendra Singh Rawat for Uttarakhand
After a decisive mandate in favour of BJP in the hill state, Dehradun RSS loyalist Trivendra Singh Rawat is set to be the chief minister of Uttarakhand.
A Sangh favourite, Rawat won the Assembly polls from Doiwala in Dehradun, where he defeated Congress' Hari Singh Bisht by a margin of 24,000 votes.
Uttarakhand delivered an unprecedented mandate in BJP's favour with the saffron wave winning 57 of 70 Vidhan Sabha seats.
Here's what we know about the Uttarakhand CM:
1. 57-year-old Trivendra Singh Rawat is known for his clean image - with no criminal record to his credit. He has declared assets worth Rs 1 crore.
However, during his tenure as agriculture minister, Rawat was named in the "seed scam". A subsequent probe initiated by the Congress government in the issue failed to prove him guilty.
2. Rawat has served as an agriculture minister in the previous BJP government. He is a self-proclaimed advocate of the farmers' cause.
In 2010, he took up the issue of Special Agricultural Zones (SAZ) in Uttarakhand with the Manmohan Singh government at the Centre.
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3. Rawat, who served as an RSS pracharak till 2002, has a postgraduate degree in mass communication and journalism from Garhwal.
4. He is known to idolise RSS founder Hedgewar and draws inspiration from Rajnath Singh and Kalyan Singh.
5. The Doiwala MLA is close to BJP top boss Amit Shah - and a staunch supporter of Modi's vikas agenda. He worked closely with the top BJP leadership as the regional election-in charge for Uttar Pradesh in the 2014 general elections.
He was also seen as one of the chief people behind BJP's victory in the Assembly poll of Jharkhand, where he worked with the cadre at the grassroots level.
Also on his agenda: Rawat made the "palayan" of locals away from India-Nepal border a concern during the elections. He's also the national convenor of the Clean Ganga Mission - Namami Gange.
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