The Uttarakhand government has appointed Mukesh Ambani’s son Anant as a member of the Shri Badrinath-Kedarnath Temple Committee.

“Anant Ambani, son of famous industrialist, has been nominated as member of the committee,” chief minister and BJP leader Trivendra Singh Rawat said in a statement.

Anant Ambani is among nine newly nominated members. A government official suggested he may have been the Centre’s choice.

All the other eight are from the hill state and are associated with the BJP. A tenth nominee, Ashok Khatri, is also a BJP loyalist and has been appointed vice-president of the committee.

Chief minister Rawat said the nominations had been made in the larger interests of the state.

A PTI report said Anant had been a regular visitor to the Badrinath and Kedarnath temples along with his parents.

The Ambanis had last year prayed at Kedarnath and Badrinath and sought the blessings of the presiding deities, Lords Shiva and Vishnu, respectively, for the wedding of Isha Ambani.

A government official expressed the hope that the formal association with the family of the richest Indian would help the redevelopment efforts under way in Kedarnath town after the 2013 floods. The floods destroyed the town.

“Several agencies have been deployed to redevelop the temple town. We are a small state and the annual earning from these two temples is just Rs 19 crore, which is not enough to continue the projects. So, we were looking to associate a big industrialist with the committee,” the official said.

“We have learnt that Mukesh Ambani had himself requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to involve him in some projects in Uttarakhand. We believe that the Centre recommended Anant,” the official added.

The footfall at the Kedarnath and Badrinath temples was 7.35 lakh and 10.58 lakh, respectively, last year.

Apart from Anant, the committee members are Indramani Geraula, Chandrakala Dhyani, Anil Kansal, Ramsurat Nautiyal, Rishi Sati, Arun Maithani, Dheeraj Manchbhaiya and Rajpal Singh Pundir.