Uttarakhand CM Trivendra Singh Rawat Resigns

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat quit his position on Tuesday amid speculations of unrest within the Bharatiya Janata Party's Uttarakhand cadre. 

He met Governor Baby Rani Maurya in Dehradun to submit his resignation. It now remains to be seen if his resignation is indeed accepted. 

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.

Uttarakhand BJP vice-president Devendra Bhasin said earlier in the day that  Uttarakhand BJP chief Banshidhar Bhagat has called a meeting of the legislative party at 11 am Wednesday, although he didn't know what was on the agenda.

The development comes a day after Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP chief JP Nadda, National General Secretary



(Organisation) BL Santosh discussed political developments in the hill state.

BJP National General Secretary and state in-charge Dushyant Gautam was part of the discussion. 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. The report was submitted to BJP leadership," said a party insider.

It is learned that the report mentioned that it will be difficult for the party to win next year's state assembly polls with Rawat as the face of BJP.

In 2017, Rawat was made Chief Minister after BJP won in Uttarakhand.