Lucknow, Jan 14: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday said Uttarakhand is likely to become the first state in the country to implement a Uniform Civil Code.

A Uniform Civil Code (UCC) for Uttarakhand was one of the major poll promises made by the BJP in the run-up to the state assembly elections held in 2022.

Addressing a gathering at the "Uttarayani Kauthik" programme organised by people who hail from Uttarakhand, Rajnath Singh said, "I think if some state is going become first in implementing uniform civil code, it will be Uttarakhand."

He, however, did not elaborate on this.

After being voted to power for a second consecutive term, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami gave his nod to setting up a committee headed by retired Supreme Court Judge Ranjana Prakash Desai to draft the UCC at the very first cabinet meeting headed by him.

Addressing the "Uttarayani Kauthik" event in Lucknow, the Union Defence minister said Uttarakhand is not only the land of gods and brave people but is now also being recognised as the land of development. The state has made remarkable progress in the last five years, he said.

Referring to the relations between Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, he said, "After Uttarakhand was carved out of Uttar Pradesh, there was bitterness in the relationship between the two states for some time. But this was never seen among the people."

Singh said even 10 years after Telangana was carved out of Andhra Pradesh, there are many unresolved issues between the two states. But after the division of Uttar Pradesh, such issues did not happen, he said.

"The relations between Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand remained so lively that despite all the pending issues, there was no discord between the people living in the two states. Rather the ties kept getting stronger," he added.

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Kolkata (PTI): BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari's personal assistant Chandranath Rath was shot at from close range by unidentified assailants in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district on Wednesday night, sources said.

The incident took place in the Madhyamgram area, where the victim, who serves as the executive assistant to the leader of opposition in the state assembly, was allegedly targeted on a public road, they said.

Rath sustained multiple bullet injuries in the firing and was rushed to a private hospital, sources added.

Soon after the incident, a large police contingent reached the spot and launched an investigation.

The motive behind the attack was not immediately known.

Senior police officers were present in the area, and efforts were on to identify and trace those involved in the shooting, sources said.