Uttarakhand CM Trivendra Singh Rawat resigns

Dehradun (Uttarakhand) [India], March 9 : Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat on Tuesday submitted his resignation to Governor Baby Rani Maurya paving the way for leadership change in the state as the ruling BJP gears up for assembly elections next year.
Rawat announced his resignation at a press conference here.
He also said that ruling party MLAs will meet at the state BJP office on Wednesday at 10 am.
"I have submitted my resignation as CM to the Governor today. The party gave me a golden opportunity to serve this state for four years. I had never thought that I would get such an opportunity. The party has now decided that the opportunity to serve as CM should be given to someone else now. Nine days are left for the completion of four years of my government," he said.
Rawat had met Bharatiya Janata Party president JP Nadda late on Monday amid speculations about a leadership change in the state.
Uttarakhand BJP in-charge Dushyant Kumar Gautam had earlier in the day played down speculation of leadership change in the state.
"He (Rawat) is doing good work. There is no allegation of corruption against him. It is not good to raise questions on his working style", Gautam had said.
According to sources, several MLAs and some ministers had complained about the style of governance of the Chief Minister to the party leadership.
The party had sent its leader Raman Singh as an observer for the emergency core group meeting, which was also attended by Gautam.