Uttarakhand crisis: Tirath Singh Rawat resigns as Chief Minister, say sources

Mangalore Today News Network / News18

Dehradun, Jul 02, 2021: Amid buzz about him losing his post barely six months after being sworn in, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat tendered his resignation today, sources told CNN-News18. The BJP is planning to elect a new legislature head tomorrow, they added. Rawat has sent his resignation to BJP national president JP Nadda, sources said.

 

Uttarakhand is abuzz with speculation that the BJP could pick a new leader as CM, given the possibility that the Election Commission may not hold a bypoll enabling Rawat’s election to the state assembly.

Uttarakhand’s Legislature party meeting is likely to be held in the next 24 to 36 hours, and Rawat is said to have asked for a meeting with Governor Baby Rani Maurya tomorrow in Dehradun, sources said.

Rawat needs to be elected as an MLA in the next two months to continue in the post, which he got after the BJP leadership removed Trivendra Singh Rawat from the helm. But observers say with the term of the assembly in any case coming to an end in less than a year, the EC may not order a bypoll for the vacant seats in Uttarakhand.

Scathing criticism by the courts of the string of elections held during the coronavirus pandemic may also contribute to the EC decision on Uttarakhand bypolls. Speculation over a change of guard in the state was fuelled by Rawat being summoned suddenly on Wednesday to Delhi, where he met the BJP’s top leaders including party president J P Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

He was supposed to return to Dehradun on Thursday but stayed back. After meeting Nadda earlier todat, Rawat told reporters that it is the EC’s prerogative to hold or not conduct the bypoll, and the party will move forward accordingly.

Pauri MP Tirath Singh Rawat took over as the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand on March 10 this year and the six-month deadline for him to be elected as an MLA ends in September. Two assembly seats are vacant in the state at present including Gangotri in Garhwal region and Haldwani in Kumaon. Speculation is rife about Rawat being fielded from Gangotri to retain the seat which fell vacant in April after the death of sitting BJP MLA Gopal Singh Rawat.

The other seat to fall vacant was Haldwani after the death of Leader of Opposition in Uttarakhand Assembly Indira Hridayesh. Political observers feel that there is less than a year left to the next assembly elections in the state and in circumstances like these normally bypolls are not held. When asked about the development, cabinet minister and state government’s spokesman Subodh Uniyal said CMs, ministers and state level officials going to Delhi is a routine thing.

On the likely bypoll in Uttarakhand, Uniyal said the state government has already informed the Election Commission about the vacant assembly seats in the state.