Uttarakhand Crisis: Trivendra Rawat Quits as CM After Meeting Top BJP Leadership

Dehradun: Trivendra Singh Rawat on Tuesday resigned as the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, ending days of speculation of a change in leadership in the hill state.

Rawat submitted his resignation to Governor Baby Rani Maurya at Raj Bhawan after his arrival from Delhi, where he met the party's central leadership.

 Before proceeding to the Raj Bhawan, Rawat was closeted with his close associates at the chief minister's residence including Cabinet minister Madan Kaushik and state minister Dhan Singh Rawat, who has emerged as a frontrunner to succeed him.

Rawat was going to complete four years in office on March 17.

Two central leaders, BJP vice president Raman Singh and general secretary Dushyant Singh Gautam, are learned to have submitted their report to party president J P Nadda on their return from the state where they had gone to speak to state BJP core group members.

However, senior party leaders had earlier discounted the possibility of any leadership change in the state while acknowledging that a section of Uttarakhand leaders may have issues with the chief minister.

Rawat met Nadda and had earlier in the day visited Uttarakhand MP Anil Baluni's residence too.

BJP MP Ajay Bhatt, a senior party leader from the state, had also told PTI that "all is well" in the state and claimed the two central leaders had visited Uttarakhand regarding preparations for the three-day state BJP executive meeting from March 12 and the Rawat government's fourth anniversary on March 18.

The state BJP on Monday had said no formal announcement had been made about any meeting of the legislature party in Uttarakhand on Tuesday.

  "As far as my knowledge goes, no formal announcement has been made yet about any state legislature party meeting here tomorrow," state BJP Chief Spokesman Munna Singh Chauhan told PTI in Dehradun.

However, when asked whether a major change was in the offing as the sudden turn of events on the political front in Uttarakhand indicated, Chauhan briefly said, "Let us see."

A section of state leaders are reportedly miffed with Rawat's leadership and are of the view that the party's electoral prospects under him may not be very bright.

The party may also go for a cabinet reshuffle in the state, sources said.

Rawat was named the chief ministerial candidate by the BJP after it stormed to power in 2017, winning 57 of 70 seats in the state Assembly.