Garhwal MP Tirath Singh Rawat was elected as leader of BJP legislature party by party MLAs on Wednesday, paving the way for him to take over as chief minister of Uttarakhand.
Rawat will take oath as chief minister at 4 pm today.
The decision was taken by party MLAs a day after Trivendra Singh Rawat stepped down from the top post.
Tirath Singh Rawat is currently the Lok Sabha MP from Garhwal parliamentary constituency. He was the BJP's state party chief from February 2013 to December 2015. He was a member of the Uttarakhand Assembly from Chaubttakhal constituency from 2012 to 2017.
The reshuffle at the top would necessitate two bypolls in the state. While Rawat needs to resign from his Lok Sabha seat, forcing a bypoll, he also needs to be elected from an assembly seat in the state within six months.
The meeting to elect a new chief minister began at the state party headquarters in Dehradun on Wednesday, a day after Trivendra Singh resigned from the post.
The announcement was made by Trivendra Singh who resigned from the post on Tuesday following a report from BJP general secretary in-charge of Uttarakhand Dushyant Kumar Gautam and former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Dr Raman Singh to the BJP's central leadership detailing the rebellion in the state unit of the party.
Trivendra Singh tendered his resignation to governor Baby Rani Maurya on Tuesday, a year before Uttarkhand is scheduled to go to polls.
The BJP had swept the elections in 2017, winning 57 seats in the 70-member Uttarakhand Assembly. Congress, on the other hand, won just 11 seats.
