Tirath Singh Rawat to be next Uttarakhand Chief Minister; will take oath at 4 pm today

In a meeting of Uttarakhand BJP's legislature party held at the state party headquarters on Wednesday morning at 10:00 am, Tirath Singh Rawat has been named as the successor of Trivendra Singh Rawat who resigned as Uttarakhand Chief Minister on Tuesday. Tirath Singh Rawat was the BJP chief in Uttarakhand from February 9, 2013, to December 31, 2015, and is a former member of the Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly from Chaubttakhal constituency from 2012 to 2017. The new Chief Minister of Uttarakhand is an MP from Garhwal in Uttarakhand and he will be taking the oath as the new CM at 4:00 pm today. He will have 6 months now to become a member of the Uttarakhand assembly.

A BJP legislative party meeting was held in Dehradun to decide the new Chief Minister for the state. The other leaders who were said to be in the race to replace Trivendra Singh Rawat were Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank', Dhan Singh Rawat, current Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari and Satpal Maharaj.

Tirath Singh Rawat speaks after being picked to be CM

While addressing the media, Tirath Singh Rawat thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP National President JP Nadda, Trivendra Singh Rawat and Raman Singh for believing in his potential. Stating that he had never imagined that he would reach here, the newly announced Chief Minister of Uttarakhand said that his government will make all efforts to meet people's expectations and take forward the work done in the last 4 years. He said, "I promise to fulfil the responsibility bestowed to me by elders, need your support and blessings."

Trivendra Singh Rawat resigns as Uttarakhand CM

A year before the Assembly Polls, Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat tendered his resignation on Tuesday evening. The BJP leader submitted his resignation to Governor Baby Rani Maurya at the Raj Bhawan. Addressing a press briefing moments after tendering his resignation, Rawat remarked that the party has unanimously decided to pass on the post to another leader. While he remained mum on who might be the new CM of the Uttarakhand, Rawat said that all the MLAs would huddle up at the BJP headquarters tomorrow and deliberate on it. 

"I have been in politics for a long time now. The party had provided me with the opportunity to serve as the CM of the state. I never thought that the party would provide me with such a huge opportunity but it was only possible in BJP to give such a platform to an ordinary person. The party has thought and unanimously decided that I should give this opportunity to someone else. I also want to thank people of the state," Rawat said after submitting his resignation. This comes amid a political crisis in the state.