Lok Sabha member Tirath Singh Rawat was on Wednesday sworn in as the new Uttarakhand chief minister, a day after the incumbent Trivendra Singh Rawat resigned after being told to by the BJP central leadership.

The choice of Tirath, 56, a low-profile MP from the Garhwal constituency, came as a surprise. Several party leaders had said an MLA would be elevated as chief minister, with the young Uttarakhand minister Dhan Singh Rawat considered the favourite.

On Wednesday, party insiders said Tirath had been picked to strike a balance between senior and junior leaders in the state. Many claimed that Tirath was the personal choice of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Tirath implied he was surprised himself. “I had never imagined I would be given an opportunity like this by the party,” he said after being formally elected leader of the legislature party in the morning in Dehradun.