Jairam Thakur,a five-time legislator, was sworn-in as the 14th Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh at the historic Ridge Maidan on 27 December. The assembly elections on 9 December saw the BJP win 44 seats in the 68-member house.
Virender Kanwar, Vikram Singh, Anil Sharma, Sarveen Choudhary, Ram Lal Markanda, Mahendra Singh, Kishan Kapoor, and Suresh Bhardwaj also took oath as cabinet ministers of the Himachal Pradesh government.
BJP Leaders Show up in Full Force
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, BJP president Amit Shah, former deputy prime minister LK Advani, and several Union ministers and chief ministers arrived in Himachal Pradesh earlier in the day to attend the ceremony.
Modi’s visit to Shimla is his first in eight months – he last visited the hill city on 27 April to address a rally.
Chief ministers in attendance included Yogi Adityanath, Shivraj Singh Chauhan, Dr Raman Singh, Vasundhara Raje, Manohar Lal Khattar, Trivendra Singh Rawat, Pema Khandu, Vijay Rupani, N Biren Singh, Devendra Fadnavis, Raghubar Das, and Sarbananda Sonowal.
Deputy chief ministers Nirmal Singh, Nitin Bhai Patel, Keshav Prasad Maurya, Sushil Modi, and Dinesh Sharma also attended the function.
Tight Security in Place
Massive security and other arrangements were made for the grand function and the Ridge Maidan, Annandale helipad, and Shimla’s Jubbarhatti airport remain under Special Protection Group(SPG) protection.
Security has been beefed up with over 1,000 security personnel, intelligence personnel in plain clothes, and sharp shooters deployed at several locations. All entry points at interstate borders are under vigil.Somesh Goyal, DGP, Himachal Pradesh
Goyal added that most of the VVIPs would be flown to Annandale helipad by choppers and taken to the venue in a carcade to avoid disruption of normal traffic. He added that a corridor has been arranged for emergency services like the movement of ambulances.
Heavy vehicles and buses coming from outside would be stopped at the borders and sent back to identified parking places after dropping passengers, while light vehicles would be permitted till tunnel 103 and the Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IAAS), officials said.
(With inputs from PTI)
(This is a developing story and will be updated)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)