Bhuvan Chandra Khanduri of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday took over the reigns as the fourth chief minister of Uttarakhand. The 72-year-old, Khanduri, a retired army officer, was administered the oath of office and secrecy by the state Governor Sudarshan Agarwal at the parade grounds in Dehradun around which security arrangements have been beefed up. A number of senior BJP functionaries, including former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, were present at the function. Khanduri was sworn along with his Council of Ministers. He had consulted the BJP high command on induction of ministers in his cabinet earlier. BJP had emerged as the single largest party in the state assembly with 34 out of the 69 seats, which went to polls last month.
