Live Updates: Uttarakhand legislative party to elect new leader today

The legislature party meeting will begin at the BJP headquarters at 3 pm in the presence of central observer Narendra Singh Tomar and BJP general secretary in-charge of Uttarakhand Dushyant Kumar Gautam.

A day after Tirath Singh Rawat resigned as Chief Minister of Uttarakhand after a less than four-month stint, the state BJP legislature party will meet on Saturday afternoon to elect its new leader. Rawat on Friday handed over his resignation to Governor Baby Rani Maurya at around 11 pm, hours after returning from Delhi where he was summoned by the top BJP leadership on Wednesday.

The legislature party meeting will begin at the BJP headquarters at 3 pm in the presence of central observer Narendra Singh Tomar and BJP general secretary in-charge of Uttarakhand Dushyant Kumar Gautam.

State BJP chief Madan Kaushik, who will chair the meeting, said all the MLAs have been asked to be present at the meeting.

However, the names of nearly half a dozen MLAs have already begun doing the rounds as probables for the top job, including Chaubattakhal MLA and cabinet minister Satpal Maharaj, Shrinagar MLA Dhan Singh Rawat and Khatima MLA Pushkar Singh Dhami.

Uttarakhand Live News Updates: State BJP legislature party to elect new leader today, day after Tirath Singh Rawat resigned as chief minister. Follow this space for the latest updates.

Tirath Singh Rawat’s resignation so close to elections is not likely to end BJP’s woes in Uttarakhand. Choosing a new CM will set off fresh tremors in the faction-ridden state unit, and explaining the frequent change of guard to the electorate won’t be an easy task. Read more here

Tirath Singh Rawat’s resignation so close to elections is not likely to end BJP’s woes in Uttarakhand. Choosing a new CM will set off fresh tremors in the faction-ridden state unit, and explaining the frequent change of guard to the electorate won’t be an easy task. Read more here

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat at his residence in New Delhi on Friday. (Express Photo: Praveen Khanna)

Speaking to mediapersons after submitting his resignation, Tirath Singh Rawat thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president J P Nadda for trusting him with the chief minister’s post. “Considering the constitutional crisis… I found it appropriate to resign,” he said.

Rawat had returned to Dehradun just hours earlier, after three days in Delhi, where he met Nadda twice and Shah once. Amidst uncertainty over his continuance in the post, this had been Rawat’s third visit to Delhi within a month.

Rawat, who continues to be an MP, had been handpicked by the central leadership as CM, in place of Trivendra Singh Rawat, after the latter ran foul of the RSS as well as many within the BJP. Having been sworn in on March 10, he had time to get elected as an MLA till September 10.

However, apart from Covid curbs making holding a bypoll difficult, as per the Representation of the People Act, a by-election for a seat should not be held if the term of a House is less than a year. Uttarakhand goes to polls next year.

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