New Delhi, Mar 18 (Agencies) : A staunch nationalist and former RSS man Trivendra Singh Rawat will today take over as the chief minister of Uttarakhand as he was unanimously elected as BJP's legislature party leader by party MLAs in Dehradun on Friday.

Having defeated Congress by bagging almost 4/5th majority in the 70-member house, the BJP chose the former RSS man as its chief ministerial candidate who is party in-charge for Jharkhand and helped the saffron party bag power there in the last elections.

"We will follow in the footsteps of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is running a corruption-free government in Delhi. Our first priority would be to give a corruption-free government to the people of Uttarakhand," Rawat said soon after he came out of the party meeting.

He will take over as the eighth chief minister of the state in presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party chief Amit Shah.

Rawat is from a military family as his father joined the Army in the British era and served in the post independence times also. As one of the nine siblings, Rawat made his mark as a ABVP leader and was leading the student union in Srinagar Garhwal University in Uttarakhand where he completed his education.

A staunch Army enthusiast, he has been associated with several organisations working for the welfare of Army personnel and their families. Rawat also organised a function to felicitate the sister of Indian prisoner Sarabjit, who was killed by inmates of a jail in Pakistan, which alleged him to be a RAW spy.

The chief minister-elect of Uttarakhand also has a large number of friends in Army circles and is known to be raising their grievances and issues at different platforms.

At the legislature party meeting in Dehradun, Rawat's name was proposed by other two contenders for the CM post Prakash Pant and Satpal Maharaj, MLAs from Pithoragarh and Chaubattakhal respectively.

Soon after the meeting, incharge of the party's affairs in the state Shyam Jaju described Rawat as the most suitable choice for the new responsibility, since he was a leader who had both organisational and ministerial experience having served as BJP's organisation secretary and a minister.

"Rawat is a leader who has both organisational and ministerial experience. He is perfectly equipped to give the state the kind of leadership it needs," he said.