'All is well': BJP holds emergency meeting amid speculation of leadership change in U'khand
It was speculated that several ministers were not consulted before declaring Gairsain as the third administrative division of the state.
The ruling BJP in Uttarakhand hurriedly convened its core committee meeting in Dehradun on Saturday amid speculations that many MLAs are not happy with the CM’s style of working. The meeting was held even as the budget session of the state assembly was on in Gairsain.
The meeting was attended by party central observers Raman Singh and Dushyant Gautam. Chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat flew from Gairsain in the afternoon to Dehradun to attend the meeting. Members of Parliament from Uttarakhand - Ajay Bhatt, Naresh Bansal, Mala Rajya Laxmi were also present.
It was speculated that several ministers were not consulted before declaring Gairsain as the third administrative division of the state, leaving many disgruntled.
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BJP state president Bansidhar Bhagat said the meeting with the two central observers was called by the party high command. “This meeting is being held to discuss and take important decisions with regard to the working committee meeting of the state BJP to be held here on March 13 and 14. The state-wide functions with completion of four years of the state government on March 18 will also be discussed in the meeting,” he said.
On the speculations that many legislators and ministers were not happy with the CM, Bhagat said there was no such agenda to be discussed in the meeting.
After Rawat left for Dehradun, many BJP MLAs also left the assembly session abruptly to attend the meeting.
A ruling party MLA, on the condition of anonymity, said, “The CM had held an emergency meeting on Friday till late night with his close aides including a senior cabinet minister.”
“Following the meeting, the CM left for Dehradun on Saturday by a helicopter after being called for the core committee meeting. All the ruling party MLAs have also been called for the meeting, many of whom have left by a chopper. Something big is going to happen in the state politics with just a year left for the next state assembly elections,” said the MLA.
A senior minister also hinted towards a likely big development. “This was brewing for the last several months as many party MLAs and leaders have been expressing their unhappiness with the style of CM’s work,” the minister said wishing not to be named.
“Not only MLAs but several ministers were also unhappy as often in many big policy decisions, he didn’t consult them. Also, many times, he doesn’t listen to the issues of party leaders,” said the minister.
Last year, BJP MLA Umesh Sharma Kau from Dehradun had written to party president JP Nadda about his constituency being neglected as far as development work is concerned. The letter followed a similar allegation made by another party legislator Bishan Singh Chuphal, who had alleged that the bureaucrats were disregarding the elected lawmakers.
Another BJP MLA Puran Singh Fartyal is also not happy with the government’s decision to re-allocate the construction work of Tanakpur-Jauljibi (TJ) road to the same contractor who was blacklisted after a probe in 2017. Fartyal was served a show-cause notice for working against party discipline and was also summoned by BJP state president Bhagat in August last year.
After the meeting concluded, the leaders ruled out a change in leadership and said all was well within the party. “Only some party issued were discussed. No change in state leadership was on the table,” said Raman Singh, the party’s state in-charge.
