Uttarakhand: Pushkar Singh Dhami moves to pacify sulking BJP leaders

Pushkar Singh Dhami, who will take oath as the new chief minister of Uttarakhand on Sunday, met senior BJP leaders, some of whom are said to be unhappy over his appointment, ahead of the swearing-in ceremony.

Sources in the saffron party said some leaders, including Satpal Maharaj and Harak Singh Rawat, who were members of former chief minister Tirath Singh Rawat's cabinet, are sulking since Saturday when Dhami was elected as the state BJP legislature party leader.

Chief Minister-designate Dhami met Satpal Maharaj at his residence in Dalanwala and offered him a bouquet of flowers.

He is understood to have persuaded the senior leader, whose name was among the half-a-dozen names doing the rounds until Saturday as probables for the chief minister's post.

Satpal Maharaj was the first to leave the legislature party meeting on Saturday, even before Dhami's election as its leader was formally announced by Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar, who was present at the meeting as a central observer of the BJP. It was interpreted as his unhappiness with the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) choice.

However, talking to reporters, Dhami said there was no resentment in the party.