Monday, 13 December 2021 | PNS | Dehradun
This assembly witnessed three leaders of the house, five members died during its term
The winter session of the Uttarakhand assembly which ended on Saturday was special in the sense that it was the last session of the fourth elected assembly of Uttarakhand. The fourth assembly came into force after the assembly elections in March 2017 and created many records which hitherto have not been achieved in the state which was created out of Uttar Pradesh in the year 2000. One of the most interesting features of the fourth assembly is that it witnessed three leaders of the houses or chief ministers. When Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept to power in the state in the assembly elections of 2017 with a huge mandate of 57 members in the house of 70 everyone believed that the state would witness a stable and strong government. The BJP anointed Trivendra Singh Rawat as the chief minister of Uttarakhand who took bold decisions and reforms such as new land laws and constitution of Char Dham Devasthanam Management Board.
These bills were passed by the assembly during Rawat’s tenure. Similarly the decision of making Gairsain summer capital of the state and third commissionerate of Uttarakhand were taken by this assembly- when he was the CM- which witnessed its last session on Saturday. It is another matter the BJP government affected a roll back on Devasthanam board and Gairsain commissionerate later. After Trivendra Singh Rawat was asked to resign from his position the BJP sprang a surprise by making Garhwal MP Tirath Singh Rawat as CM on March 10, 2021. He too was asked to resign by the central leadership of BJP on July 2 this year. His short tenure of 114 days created a unique record which no one would like to emulate in future. Tirath became the only CM in the state who could not attend the assembly. He also holds a record of being CM for the shortest term. After asking Tirath to step down the BJP leadership sprang another surprise by appointing a relatively inexperienced Pushkar Singh Dhami as new CM of Uttarakhand. He is also the youngest CM and leader of the house in Uttarakhand.
The fourth assembly had its tenure during the pandemic period of Covid 19 and due to it the sessions were curtailed. For the first time the members were allowed to virtually attend the one day session of assembly in September 2020 when the Covid was at its peak. The fourth assembly also witnessed the death of five of its members which is the highest so far. The house witnessed the demise of Tharali MLA Magan Lal Shah, Pithoragarh MLA and cabinet Minister Prakash Pant, Salt MLA Surendra Singh Jeena, Gangotri MLA Gopal Rawat and leader of opposition Indira Hridayesh during its term.
