Three time Rishikesh legislator, Premchand Aggarwal was unanimously elected the speaker of Uttarakhand assembly speaker in Dehradun on Thursday. BJP gave preference to 56-year-old Aggarwal, completely ignoring claim of many senior party leaders.
Congress decided not to field any candidate for the speaker post, paving way for Premchand to get elected unopposed. BJP had to face anger of senior legislator and former state assembly speaker Harbans Kapoor support for ignoring him for the coveted post.
Premchand Aggarwal holds a post graduate degree in commerce. He began his political career from the college days to move to state politics after the formation of Uttarakhand. He contested from Rishikesh assembly seat in 2007, 2012 and 2017- registering win every time.
The first session of the Uttarakhand assembly will kick off from Friday. Chief Minister Trivendra Rawat has made Prakash Pant the parliamentary affair minister and rest of the ministers will have to wait for their portfolios for a couple of days. As two slots of cabinet ministers are presently vacant, many BJP leaders are lobbing for the remaining posts.