Speculations rife on expansion & reshuffle of CM Dhami cabinet – myuttarakhandnews.com | Uttarakhand News in English | Dehradun News Today| News Uttarakhand | Uttarakhand latest news

Tuesday, 13 August 2024 | my uttarakhand news | DEHRADUN  The recent Delhi visits of many senior leaders of BJP including that of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has given rise to speculations about reshuffle and expansion of Dhami cabinet. It is learnt that the CM Dhami is also keen to fill the vacant posts of ministers in his cabinet and drop a couple of non performer/ controversial ministers. Speculations are rife  that the CM Dhami  can expand and reshuffle  his team after the monsoon session of the Uttarakhand Assembly.    Many MLAs of the ruling BJP including some of the former ministers are said to be in the race for the cabinet berth.  The names of veteran Munna Singh Chauhan, former state Presidents Madan Kaushik and Bansidhar Bhagat, Bishan Singh Chufal, former cabinet minister Arvind Pandey,  Dharampur MLA Vinod Chamoli, Lansdowne MLA Dilip Rawat, Bhimtal MLA Ram Singh Kaida, BHEL Ranipur MLA Adesh Chauhan, Devprayag MLA Vinod Kandari and Karnprayag MLA Anil Nautiyal are making rounds as contenders for cabinet berths. In recent times many leaders including  former cabinet minister Madan Kaushik and Bishan Singh Chufal have met CM Dhami. It is pertinent to mention here that both these senior leaders  were ignored by Dhami when he was reelected as CM of the State after the assembly elections of 2022. Three positions in the cabinet have been vacant ever since Dhami took over the CM in his second stint in March 2022. After the death of Minister Chandan Ram Dass, the number of vacancies in the cabinet have increased to four.  At present there are only two ministers (Rekha Arya and Saurabh Bahuguna) from the Kumaon region in the cabinet. Similarly as many as seven districts including Haridwar, Nainital and Chamoli are unrepresented in the cabinet. At present the Pauri (Satpal Maharaj and Dhan Singh Rawat) and Dehradun (Prem Chand Agarwal and Ganesh Joshi) are represented by two ministers while Champawat is represented by CM Dhami, Udham Singh Nagar by Saurabh Bahuguna, Tehri by Subodh Uniyal and Almora by Rekha Arya in the cabinet. The political observers opine that the central leadership of BJP would take a final decision on the cabinet expansion, reshuffle and its timing and its composition. They point out that the central leadership could allow Dhami to drop a couple of controversial ministers. The experts further opine that CM Dhami can expand his cabinet before the elections of urban local bodies (ULB). “ By expanding  and reshuffling his cabinet the CM can silence his critics and put to rest the speculations of a leadership change in the state,’’ said a political observer.