Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat and Bharatiya Janata Party State president and MP Ajay Bhatt have expressed happiness at Bhagat Singh Koshyari’s appointment to the post of Maharashtra Governor. The veteran politician has been active in politics since his student days and also worked as a teacher and journalist.
He was born on June 17, 1942 to Gopal Singh Koshyari and Motima Devi at Palanadhura Chetabgarh in Bageshwar district of Uttarakhand. He holds a master's degree in English and studied at Almora College of Agra University, now SSJ campus of Kumaon University. During this period, Koshyari was also a general secretary of the students' union of Almora College during 1961-62. He has also represented the executive council of Kumaon University, during 1979-82, 1982–85 and 1988-91.
He has had a successful career as a teacher and journalist. He had worked as a lecturer at Raja Inter College, Raja Ka Rampur, Etah district, Uttar Pradesh for few years. Koshyari is the founder and managing editor of Parvat Piyush, a weekly published from Pithoragarh, Uttarakhand since 1975. He has also published two books, Uttaranchal Pradesh Kyun? and Uttaranchal Sangharsh Evam Samadhan
He joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), took part in the struggle against the Emergency and was imprisoned in Almora and Fatehgarh Central Jail under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA), from July 3, 1975 to March 23, 1977.
In May 1997, he became a member of Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council, the upper house of legislature of Uttar Pradesh. In 2000, he was appointed Minister of Energy, Irrigation, Law, and Legislative Affairs of the newly created state of Uttaranchal. In 2001, he replaced Nityanand Swami as the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand. He has also served as the State president of the BJP. As a result of his party's defeat in the 2002 Assembly elections, he resigned in March 2002 as the Chief Minister. However, he was elected from Kapkot Assembly constituency and became the leader of the Opposition of the Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly, till 2007.
In the 2007 Assembly elections in Uttarakhand, he was elected again from Kapkot Assembly constituency. In November 2008, he was elected a member of the Rajya Sabha from Uttarakhand and remained a member till his election to the Lok Sabha in 2014 from Nainital-Udham Singh Nagar constituency.