Trivendra Singh Rawat on Tuesday stepped down as the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand and has submitted his resignation to Baby Rani Maurya, paving way for a change in leadership in the BJP-ruled hill state. Rawat’s resignation comes a day after he met central BJP leaders amid speculation that the party is mulling political changes in the state. It was reported that a section of state leaders was reportedly miffed with Rawat's leadership and was of the view that the party's electoral prospects under him may not be very bright.
On Tuesday, Trivendra Singh Rawat met the Governor at the Raj Bhavan in Dehradun and submitted his resignation.
“The party gave me a golden opportunity to serve this state for four years. I had never thought that I would get such an opportunity. The party has now decided that the opportunity to serve as Chief Minister should be given to someone else now,” Trivendra Singh Rawat told the media after submitting his resignation.
Ajay Bhatt and Anil Baluni, two senior leaders from the state who are members of Parliament, are being seen as two other strong contenders for the top post. Sources said the party may also bring in a deputy chief minister, who will be from the Kumaon region. Pushkar Singh Dhami is likely to be the deputy chief minister, they added.
On Monday evening, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP chief JP Nadda, and National General Secretary (Organisation) BL Santosh discussed the political development in the hill state.
BJP National General Secretary and state in-charge, Dushyant Gautam was part of the discussion as well. The meeting was called after several MLAs questioned Rawat's style of functioning.
"Bureaucracy is getting more powerful and voices of elected representatives are unheard," said a party member from Uttarakhand.
On Saturday, the BJP leadership sent former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh and Gautam as observers to meet state leaders and get feedback. "Both the leaders met the members of the core committee and took their opinion. A report was submitted to BJP leadership," said a party insider.
It is learnt that the report mentioned that it will be difficult for the party to win the state assembly polls, scheduled to be held next year, with Rawat as the face of BJP. In 2017, Rawat was made Chief Minister after BJP won in Uttarakhand.
With agency inputs