New Delhi: With the BJP mulling a change of leadership in Uttarakhand, state minister Dhan Singh Rawat has emerged as a frontrunner to replace Trivendra Singh Rawat as the chief minister.
Sources said the party may also bring in a deputy chief minister, who will be from the Kumaon region.
Pushkar Singh Dhami is likely to be the deputy chief minister, they added.
The central BJP leadership recently sent two observers, party vice president Raman Singh and general secretary Dushyant Kumar Gautam, to Uttarakhand to get feedback from the party's core group in the state amid reports of discontent against the chief minister.
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Trivendra Singh Rawat met central BJP leaders here on Monday amid speculation that the party is mulling political changes in the state.
Two central leaders, BJP vice president Raman Singh and general secretary Dushyant Singh Gautam, are learned to have submitted their report to party president J P Nadda on their return from the state where they had gone to speak to state BJP core group members.
However, senior party leaders discounted the possibility of any leadership change in the state while acknowledging that a section of Uttarakhand leaders may have issues with the chief minister.
Rawat met Nadda and had earlier in the day visited Uttarakhand MP Anil Baluni's residence too.
BJP MP Ajay Bhatt, a senior party leader from the state, told PTI that "all is well" in the state and added that the two central leaders had visited Uttarakhand regarding preparations for the three-day state BJP executive meeting from March 12 and the Rawat government's fourth anniversary on March 18.
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Gautam had also spoken on similar lines on Sunday.
The state BJP on Monday said there has been no formal announcement about any meeting of the legislature party in Uttarakhand on Tuesday.
"As far as my knowledge goes, no formal announcement has been made yet about any state legislature party meeting here tomorrow," state BJP Chief Spokesman Munna Singh Chauhan told PTI in Dehradun.
However, when asked whether a major change was in the offing as the sudden turn of events on the political front in Uttarakhand indicated, Chauhan briefly said, "Let us see."
He said the chief minister would return to Dehradun at noon on Tuesday.
A section of state leaders are reportedly miffed with Rawat's leadership and are of the view that the party's electoral prospects under him may not be very bright.
The party may also go for a cabinet reshuffle in the state, sources said.
Rawat was named the chief ministerial candidate by the BJP after it stormed to power in 2017, winning 57 of 70 seats in the state assembly.
PTI
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