Tirath gets national role, Dushyant dropped: BJP’s new team gives relief to Uttarakhand ahead of 2027 polls
By Sunil Negi
DEHRADUN | 17 August 2026
In a major organisational reshuffle announced by the BJP Central Office on Sunday, former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat has been appointed as the National Vice President of the party, while former Uttarakhand incharge and senior Dalit leader Dushyant Kumar Gautam has been dropped from all national posts.
The move comes at a crucial time with Uttarakhand assembly elections slated for early 2027.
Tirath Singh Rawat, whose parliamentary ticket as a sitting BJP MP from Garhwal was snatched last time and given to national BJP media incharge Anil Baluni, has returned to prominence after being relatively dormant for the past few years. His elevation is being seen as the party’s attempt to strengthen its Garhwal base and give adequate representation to Uttarakhand in the central team ahead of the state polls.
According to the list released by BJP National President Shri Nitin Nabin, Rawat finds a place among 13 National Vice Presidents. Others in the list include Smt. Vasundhara Raje Scindia, Shri Ram Madhav, Shri Baijayant Jay Panda and Sardar Manpreet Singh Badal.
The party has also retained Shri B.L. Santhosh as National General Secretary (Org.) and appointed 8 National General Secretaries including Smt. Smriti Irani, Shri Sunil Bansal, Shri Biplab Kumar Deb and Dr. Satish Poonia.
Dushyant Gautam dropped amid controversy
The most talked-about omission is that of Dushyant Kumar Gautam, who served as BJP National General Secretary and Uttarakhand incharge for several years. Gautam, a prominent Dalit face of the party and former Rajya Sabha MP from Haryana, has not been given any post this time.
Party insiders say Gautam had earned the wrath of the central leadership after his name figured as an alleged “VIP” in the Ankita Bhandari case. The allegation was made in a telephonic conversation by the party’s former Haridwar MLA Suresh Yadav and his ex-actress wife Urmila Sanawar, which later went viral on social media.
Though the allegation was never proved from any angle, it had denigrated the reputation of the state leadership to a great extent and raised questions of patronage within the party ranks in Uttarakhand.
Political analysts say the decision to keep Gautam out of the new list of Vice Presidents and General Secretaries has come as a huge relief for the Uttarakhand BJP and for Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, as the party prepares for elections.
“Had Dushyant Gautam’s name been there in the new list of national appointments, the BJP would have suffered badly in the state assembly elections likely to happen in the start of 2027,” said a senior party observer in Dehradun.
Dushyant Kumar Gautam is an Indian politician and has been associated with the BJP’s Scheduled Caste Morcha for a long time. He was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Haryana for the 2020-2022 term, completing the remaining tenure of former INLD leader Ram Kumar Kashyap.
He has also contested MCD elections from RK Puram successfully and Delhi Assembly elections from Kondli (SC) in 2008 and 2013, and Karol Bagh (SC) in 2025, securing 21,594, 29,373 and 4,486 votes respectively.
With Rawat back in a key national role and Gautam out, the BJP appears to be resetting its Uttarakhand strategy. The party will now look to Tirath Singh Rawat’s experience and connect to lead outreach and coordination in the hills in the run-up to 2027.
