New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday announced Colonel (Retd.) Ajay Kothiyal as the party’s chief ministerial face for the 2022 Uttarakhand Assembly elections.


Colonel (Retd.) Kothiyal, an Indian Army veteran and former principal of Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM) at Uttarkashi, is known for his role in reconstruction of Kedarnath after the flash floods in 2013.


He shot to prominence in 2013 when he, with the help of an instructor, trained 30 youngsters of which 28 got recruited in the Garhwal Rifles.


He later in 2015 started a non-profit trust — ‘Youth Foundation’ — as more youngsters approached him. The ‘Youth Foundation’, which operates six camps in various districts of Uttarakhand, also helps in providing medical facilities to the poor people in Garhwal region.


Announcing the decision to pick Colonel (Retd.) Kothiyal as the AAP’s CM face, Kejriwal said this is based on the feedback received from the people, who are fed up with politicians helming the state.


Addressing a press conference at the IRDT auditorium in Uttarakhand capital Dehradun, Kejriwal said the people of Uttarakhand need such a “patriot”.


READ: Uttarakhand Election 2022: Kejriwal Declares Col Ajay Kothiyal As AAP CM Candidate


“We are nominating Colonel Ajay as he knows what it takes to serve the nation and its people. He has been protecting us from the enemy on the border for all these years and now it is time that he serves people by being with them,” he added.


Kejriwal also assured the people of Uttarakhand that his party will develop the state as a spiritual capital for the Indians staying across the world.


"If voted to power, the Aam Aadmi Party, under the leadership of Kothiyal, will make Uttarakhand the global spiritual capital for Hindus," he said.


The AAP had earlier decided to field Colonel (Retd.) Kothiyal, who joined the party on April 20 this year, from the Gangotri Assembly constituency in the by-polls amid speculation that then chief minister Tirath Singh Rawat may contest from there.


Tirath, however, later resigned as the chief minister and the by-poll has not yet been announced.