Pushkar Singh Dhami took oath as Uttarakhand Chief Minister today.
Uttarakhand's new Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Sunday said that he wanted to help those who had been affected economically by the coronavirus crisis by creating jobs and filling vacant positions.
"I have been working among youngsters and I understand the issues very well. Covid has impacted their livelihood. We will try to make the situation better for them and we will try to appoint youngsters for the vacant posts in the state," he said in his first remarks after taking oath.
Mr Dhami was sworn in as the 11th chief minister of Uttarakhand a day after being elected as the leader of the BJP legislature party.
The two-time MLA from Khatima constituency has never been a minister in the state government but at 45, he is now the youngest chief minister of Uttarakhand and the third one to take charge in four months.
"A common party worker has been given a chance to serve the state. I am thankful to the party's high command," Mr Dhami had told reporters here on Saturday.
The son of an ex-serviceman, Pushkar Singh Dhami was born in 1975 in Kanalichhina village in Pithoragarh district. He holds a law degree and served as a volunteer for the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological parent of the BJP.
He also had been a member of the student wing of the RSS, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). Mr Dhami served as the president of the Uttarakhand BJP youth wing twice between 2002 and 2008.
He is believed to be a protege of former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Bhagat Singh Koshyari.
Mr Dhami, who replaced Tirath Singh Rawat following growing dissent in the party, belongs to the Kumaun region of the state whereas the two Chief Ministers before him came from Garhwal.
(With inputs from ANI)