Tirath Singh Rawat, the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, submitted his resignation to the Governor on Friday, just four months after taking office and just months before the state’s elections next year.
“I felt it was necessary for me to resign due to the constitutional crisis. COVID-19 made it impossible to hold bypolls “In a brief statement in Hindi, he said.
The ruling party asked Tirath Rawat, who had been in Delhi for three days for meetings with the BJP leadership, to resign this afternoon. He sought an appointment with Governor Baby Rani Maurya soon after. However, he handed in his papers to his party’s leader, JP Nadda, before meeting with the Governor.
Uttarakhand’s BJP MLAs will meet today to elect a new leader.
Mr Rawat was sworn in as Chief Minister in March, just over a year before the Uttarakhand election, amid fierce opposition to his predecessor, Trivendra Rawat.
Mr Rawat, who is an MP, would have to win an assembly seat and become a member of the Uttarakhand legislative assembly by September 10 in order to keep his job.
After the massive controversy surrounding the March-April election in five states, which coincided with rising virus cases in the second surge, the Election Commission would be hard pressed to hold bypolls at this time.
“There are a lot of by-elections coming up. The Covid situation is a major factor to consider,” sources close to the Election Commission said this morning.
To the BJP’s dismay, the new Chief Minister failed to defuse the infighting in Uttarakhand any better than his predecessor.
Satpal Maharaj and Dhan Singh Rawat, according to sources, have sent signals to the leadership that they are interested in the top job.
They had previously lost the race to Tirath Rawat earlier this year.
Tirath Rawat’s short tenure was marred by controversy. Uttarakhand BJP leaders had complained to the Delhi leadership about public outrage over some of his statements.
Mr Rawat even made his party look bad by criticising his predecessor’s policy choices.
Mr Rawat made widely condemned remarks about women wearing ripped jeans shortly after taking office. He also claimed that the United States, not the United Kingdom, ruled India for 200 years.
His handling of the Kumbh Mela during the peak of the Covid spike, as well as his remark that “no RT-PCR test was required,” sparked outrage.
Former chief minister and Congress leader Harish Rawat lashed out at the state’s BJP government, saying the party has made its leaders’ positions ridiculous. Mr Rawat also said Tirath Rawat had become a “joke” after no decision was made on contesting elections in a series of tweets and a video.
According to sources, the BJP decided to cut its losses even if it meant projecting chaos in the hill state.
The Chenab Times News Desk