Who will be CM? Sawant, Dhami in Delhi today for BJP talks over Uttarakhand, Goa

Yogi Adityanath is returning for a second term in Uttar Pradesh, setting a new record with a chief minister retaining UP for a consecutive term after 37 years. But the BJP is silent over naming the chief ministers for Goa and Uttarakhand. Goa’s Pramod Sawant and Uttarakhand’s Pushkar Dhami will be in Delhi on Tuesday to meet top party leaders. “The central observer will come. After they come, a discussion will be done, the leader of the legislative party will be elected and then the formation of the government will take place…I am going to Delhi today,” Pramod Sawant was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

Earlier in the day, the BJP’s Uttarakhand chief, Madan Kaushik, had told ANI,”The party will hold an important meeting in Delhi today regarding Uttarakhand. Pushkar Dhami will also be there. JP Nadda and general secretary BL Santosh will be present in the meeting.”

While Sawant had retained Sanquelim, Dhami had lost his Khatima seat. He had replaced Tirath Singh Rawat last year who was briefly the CM after Trivendra Singh Rawat stepped down in a series of leadership changes that the state saw.

In a 4/5 win, the party registered a victory in Manipur too where there is no clarity yet if Biren Singh – who was the chief minister – will continue in his role.

On Monday, the BJP parliamentary board picked central observers and co-observers for the election of the leader of the legislative party in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa. In Uttar Pradesh, home minister Amit Shah is the observer and former Jharkhand chief minister Raghubar Das is the co-observer. In Uttarakhand, Defence minister Rajnath Singh and minister of state for external affairs Meenakshi Lekhi have been appointed in the first and second role respectively.

For Manipur, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman is the observer and law minister Kiren Rijiju is the co-observer. And for Goa, agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar was appointed as the observer while minister of state L Murugan was appointed as the co-observer.