Dan Singh Rawat from Khatima of Udham Singh Nagar district was unanimously elected as the Chairman of the State Cooperative Banks in Haldwani on Tuesday. Earlier in the day, he was nominated for the Cooperative Bank s Board by the State Government and later his name was cleared officially.
Aware of the importance of the election, State BJP brass had been camping in Haldwani since Monday. This despite the fact, the Congress decided to shy away from the election by fielding no candidate to contest it. The BJP leaders were found elated after Rawat was elected with the development coming on the same day the party-helmed Government was celebrating its one-month tenure in power.
Notably, the Nainital MlA Sanjeev Arya was the Chairman of the State Cooperative Banks. On his election as MlA, he had resigned from the post with the Deputy Chairman Manvendra Singh, a Congress leader, acting as the officiating Chairman since. After the notification for the election was announced on Tuesday, Singh tried his best to have himself fielded for the election. But the Congress with a paltry 11 seats in the 70-member Assembly did not muster courage to pitch into the election.
Earlier in the day, things took a dramatic turn after four directors, appointed by the previous Congress-led Government, switched to the BJP a few hours before the nomination process started. Till Monday, the majority resting with the Congress, the manipulative skill of the camping saffron leaders did the trick to ensure the complexion of the board having changed in their favour. After the dramatic turn of things, the State Government appointed Dan Singh Rawat as the 12th director of the board and later, his name was cleared as BJP's official candidate for the post of Chairman. Immediately after the announcement, Rawat filed his nomination. With no other candidate left in the fray, Rawat was declared unanimously elected as the Chairman of the State Cooperative Banks. During election, a galaxy of BJP leaders, including Ministers, like Cooperatives Minister Dr Dhan Singh Rawat, Cabinet Minister Yashpal Arya, MlA Bishan Singh Chufal, Sanjeev Arya, State BJP general secretary Naresh Bansal, Kumaon media in-charge Tarun Bansal and district president Pradeep Bisht were present.