Dehradoon: Ending days of speculation amid disquiet within the ruling BJP in Uttarakhand, Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat Tuesday submitted his resignation to Governor Baby Rani Maurya. “I have submitted my resignation as the chief minister to the Governor today. BJP legislature party meeting is scheduled to be held at 10 am tomorrow at the party office,” Rawat said while addressing a press conference.

Accepting his resignation, the Governor has asked Rawat to be the caretaker CM till a new candidate is selected for the post. Rawat’s resignation comes a day after he met BJP national president J P Nadda in Delhi. Party sources told The Indian Express that prior to meeting Rawat, Nadda held two rounds of meetings with Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the party’s national general secretary (organisation) B L Santosh and general secretary in charge of Uttarakhand Dushyant Gautam.

BJP sources in Uttarakhand said some MLAs and factions in the party had conveyed their dissatisfaction with the functioning of Rawat’s government to the central leadership and the RSS. Senior MLAs have also been demanding the expansion of the State Cabinet where three berths have been lying vacant for two years.

“There is unrest among a major section of party functionaries and MLAs. They are complaining that officers in districts are not paying heed to their recommendations. They are feeling ignored. In this situation, winning the next Assembly election could be a challenge,” an RSS functionary had told The Indian Express.

Rawat’s visit to Delhi came with just 10 days to go for his government to complete four years, and two days after BJP national vice-president Raman Singh held a meeting of the party’s state core committee in Dehradun as an “observer” and spoke to members separately.

Raman Singh had also visited the RSS office to get feedback on the situation. In December last year, when Nadda had visited Dehradun, RSS functionaries had conveyed that the BJP can win the 2022 Assembly elections only if it takes party workers along. Rawat’s government has since come under the scanner following last month’s flood in Chamoli when it pushed to resume work on projects suspended by the apex court.

Earlier, in October 2020, the High Court had ordered a CBI probe into allegations made by a journalist in a video, accusing Rawat of allegedly getting money transferred to relatives in 2016 to back the appointment of a person in Jharkhand. The Supreme Court had stayed the order.

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