Uttarakhand CM Rawat resigns amid complaints of below-par performance

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat submitted his resignation to governor Baby Rani Maurya on Tuesday (March 9) after the decided to put in place a new chief minister a year before the assembly elections amid complaints that Rawat’s performance has been below par. Rawat had met BJP leaders in Delhi on March 8. He had also met BJP President JP Nadda.

“The party gave me an opportunity to serve this state for four years. It now wants give the responsibility to someone else now,” Rawat said in Dehradun. “The BJP legislature party meeting is scheduled to be held at 10 am tomorrow (Wednesday, March 10) at the party office.”

According to sources, there was discontent among the state’s BJP MLAs and MPs regarding the chief minister’s way of functioning.

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The central BJP leadership had recently sent two observers, party vice-president Raman Singh and general secretary Dushayant Kumar Gautam to assess the CM’s performance. The report was submitted to Nadda who then summoned Rawat to Delhi.

Former Uttarakhand CM and Congress leader Harish Rawat commented on the CM’s resignation: “I can see a change in power happening. Even the BJP’s central leadership has admitted that its present govt in the State could not do much. No matter who they bring now they will not come back to power in 2022.”

Apart from ND Tiwari, no Uttarakhand chief minister has completed a full term. Both Congress and BJP have changed CMs before elections but that didn’t help them in the next elections.

(With inputs from agencies)