Khanduri Steps down; Pant, Pokhriyal Likely to Replace Him

With dissidence mounting against him, Uttarakhand Chief Minister BC Khanduri has finally stepped down as CM, some more than a month after BJP was routed in parliamentary elections in the state.

Khanduri, 75, tendered his resignation to party chief Rajnath Singh on Monday night after a meeting of senior leaders at the residence of LK Advani in which a decision to replace him was taken.

Subsequently, all the BJP MLAs from the state have been asked to assemble in New Delhi to elect a new legislative party leader on Wednesday.

In the wake of the political event, Prakash Pant and Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank are being considered the main contenders running to replace Khanduri as Uttarakhand CM.

BS Koshiyari, who had been leading the Khanduri camp with overt support of Rajnath Singh, has been ruled out as a possible replacement because many central leaders felt that his act of resigning from Rajya Sabha is a pressure tactic that amounted to gross party indiscipline.