Dehradun: BJP MP Tirath Singh Rawat will become the new chief minister of Uttarakhand, Trivendra Singh Rawat, who stepped down on Tuesday, announced after a meeting of the legislature party.
Rawat is currently the Lok Sabha MP from Garhwal parliamentary constituency. He was the BJP's state party chief February 2013 to December 2015. He was a member of the Uttarakhand Assembly from Chaubttakhal constituency from 2012 to 2017.
The meeting to elect a new chief minister began at the state party headquarters in Dehradun on Wednesday, a day after Trivendra Singh Rawat resigned from the post.
The meeting started at 10 am at the party office on Balbir Road.
Central observer Raman Singh and state party incharge Dushyant Gautam also arrived to oversee the appointment of the new chief minister.
About half a dozen names had been doing the rounds as probables for the chief minister's post, including Haridwar MP Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank', Nainital MP Ajay Bhatt, state Tourism Minister Satpal Maharaj, Rajya Sabha MP Anil Baluni and state minister of Higher education Dhan Singh Rawat. However, the party chose to go with low-profile Tirath Singh Rawat.
Trivendra Singh Rawat resigned on Tuesday after days of speculation about a leadership change in the state.
Rawat tendered his resignation after meeting governor Baby Rani Maurya on Tuesday, a year before Uttarkhand is scheduled to go to the polls. The BJP swept the elections in 2017, winning 57 seats in the 70-member Uttarakhand Assembly. Congress, on the other hand, won just 11 seats.
