New Delhi, July 2 As Uttarakhand Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat is all set to resign, names of Dhan Singh Rawat, Satpal Maharaj and some others started doing rounds as his possible successors.
Preparations for BJP's legislative party meeting are also on and MLAs have been asked to reach Dehradun.
Sources in the party said that a legislative party meeting will be called on Saturday to elect a new Chief Minister.
"We have learned that Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar will be coming as central observer of the legislative party meeting to elect a new Chief Minister. We have heard that a MLA will be elected for the post of Chief Minister to avoid any crisis like the current one," a Uttarakhand BJP leader said.
Rawat, who is to step down following his likely inability to become a member of the state Assembly by the deadline of September 10, as required, on Friday evening returned to Dehradun from New Delhi and is likely to submit his resignation to Governor Baby Rani Maurya.
Apart from Dhan Singh Rawat and Satpal Maharaj, the names of Pushkar Dhani and Ritu Khanduri are also doing the rounds.
Dhan Singh Rawat, a minister in Tirath Singh Rawat government, has emerged as front runner for the post. Close to RSS, he has worked as state Secretary of its student wing ABVP and also served as an RSS office-bearer. He unsuccessfully contested for the first time in 2012, but won in 2017 and currently is Education Minister.
After Dhan Singh, another prominent name doing the rounds is veteran Satpal Maharaj, also a minister in the current government. A former Congressman and Union Minister who joined the BJP in 2014, Satpal Maharaj has clearly shown his ambitions to become Chief Minister.
Another name doing rounds for the post is of Dhami, a MLA from the Khatima constituency in Udham Singh Nagar district.
Meanwhile, Khanduri is MLA from Yamkeshwar and President of the state BJP women wing.
"Our party always surprises everyone, like it had done in March by appointing Tirath Singh Rawat," another Uttarakhand BJP leader said.
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