Never took anyone's help to get CM's post: Trivendra Singh Rawat

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat on Sunday said he never took anyone's help to get the post and he had joined politics to do something good.

Recalling the day when the 2017 Uttarakhand Assembly poll results were declared, he said he left for Delhi after receiving a call from BJP president Amit Shah and was told that he was being made the chief minister only after he reached the national capital.

Rawat was speaking at the Uttarakhand Young Leaders Conclave here.

"I want to tell you that I came into politics to do something good. I never asked for anyone's help to get the chief minister's post," he said.

"In 1993, I was asked to contest from the Lansdowne assembly seat but I refused. Then I was appointed as the BJP's organisation secretary. But I became a member of the party only after winning the election from Doiwala in 2002. Before that I was not even a member of the BJP," he said.

Rawat said he didn't know that he was being made the chief minister till he reached Delhi to meet Shah after the 2017 Uttarakhand Assembly polls.

After the results were declared, he said, he was sitting at home when a friend told him that the BJP chief was calling him.

"After that I left for Delhi and there I was told that I was being made the chief minister of Uttarakhand. Amit Shah ji told me that he would finalise things only after speaking to 'sahab'," he said.

He added that Shah later asked him to prepare his cabinet.

Rawat noted that holding the chief minister's office did not bring him under any kind of pressure or stress.

"In fact, I never come under any kind of stress," he said.

On bridging the gap between the hills and the plains, the chief minister said his government will soon set up 660 growth centres in the state, out of which 82 have already been set up.

People can visit these growth centres to buy local products, he said.

Rawat said Uttarakhand has become a prominent destination for shooting films and TV serials.

Two hundred movies and TV serials have been shot in the state in the past one-and-half year.

Later, Rawat shared his phone number with the students and asked them to call him whenever they felt the need to do so.