Nishank Elected Uttarakhand BJP Legislature Party Leader
Uttarakhand Health Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has been elected the BJP legislative party leader. Considered close to BC Khanduri, Nishank is a strong leader from Garhwal and is known to be close to the RSS.
The decision was taken in a crucial meeting of Uttarakhand BJP MLAs held in New Delhi which was, among dissident leader BS Koshiyari and state unit president Bachchi Singh Rawat, was attended by senior party leaders M Venkaiah Naidu and Thawar Chand Gehlot as central observers.
It may be mentioned that Uttarakhand chief minister B C Khanduri stepped down on Tuesday bowing to pressure from dissidents aggravated after the party lost all five Lok Sabha seats in the state.
It is said that the version put out by the party that Khanduri offered to step down, taking moral responsibility for the defeat, was only partly true. A choice of the central leadership who favoured him because of his performance as Union surface transport minister in Vajpayee government – he gave the push to the ambitious national highways project – the retired major general could not win over the MLAs aligned with unsuccessful contenders for chief ministership.
While the central leadership persevered with him, he had appeared to be hanging by a slender thread since the poll wipeout.
