Amit Shah holds meeting over govt formation in Uttarakhand

New Delhi, March 20 (IANS) The discussion over the formation of BJP government in Uttarakhand was held here on Sunday at the residence of Union Home Amit Shah.

The BJP's top leadership and Uttarakhand leaders assembled at Shah's residence to finalise the name of the chief minister and the rest of the cabinet.

BJP chief J.P. Nadda and national general secretary (organisation) B.L. Santosh participated in the discussion. Caretaker chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, Uttarakhand BJP president Madan Kaushik, former chief minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' also took part in the meeting. Uttarakhand minister and one of the contenders for the post Satpal Maharaj was also in the discussion.

"Name of the chief minister and minister will be finalised and conveyed to state leaders present in the meeting. Central observers will convey the wish of party leadership to the legislative party and the chief minister will be elected," a party insider said.

After 10 days of declaration of the Assembly polls results, suspense over the name of chief minister of Uttarakhand is likely to get over soon. The party insider claims that the defeat of incumbent Dhami from Khatima is the main reason behind delay in the election of new chief minister and formation of new government in Uttarakhand.

"After Dhami's defeat, first of all the party leadership will take a call on whether he will be given a chance or not for successfully leading the party to the historic victory. We are clueless about the formation of government even after eight days of declaration of the Assembly poll results," an Uttarakhand BJP leader said.

The BJP has appointed Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and minister of state of external affairs Meenakshi Lekhi as the central observers for election of the leader of legislative party. The BJP has retained power for a second term in Uttarakhand by winning 47 seats out of 70.