Uttarakhand CM Trivendra Singh Rawat resigns a year before polls

His resignation comes amid a growing resentment towards the office of Rawat and following his trip to Delhi on Monday where he had met with the BJP leadership.

Rawat, 60, handed in his resignation to Governor Baby Rani Maurya just days before completing four years in power.

A first-timer, he was chosen by Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the BJP swept the Uttarakhand election in 2017.

The BJP won 57 seats in the 69-member assembly while Congress managed to bag just 11 seats.

"I have been working in politics for a while now and my party gave me an opportunity to work as the state Chief Minister for four years - the golden years of my life. Despite coming from a rural background, I was entrusted with the responsibility to lead the state; that is only possible in a party like BJP," Rawat told media.

"Now that party has taken a collective decision to entrust the responsibility of state chief ministership to some other leader," he told.

It is a rare move by the BJP to change the CM over non-performance issue especially a year before the Assembly polls.

State minister, Dhan Singh Rawat, is likely to take over as Chief Minister of Uttarakhand.

Dhan Singh Rawat, who was in Garhwal, took a private chopper to state capital Dehradun on Tuesday afternoon.

The BJP legislature party in Uttarakhand will meet Wednesday to choose a new leader.

Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party, which is trying to make a presence in Uttarakhand, slammed the BJP for changing its CM.

"By changing Chief Ministers, BJP has conceded even before 2022. In four years the BJP did not do a single thing on the basis of which it can seek votes. They are trying to hide their failures by changing the face. BJP should apologise to the people of Uttarakhand for wasting four years," tweeted the party's Manish Sisodia.