NEW DELHI: Uttarakhand Chief Minister B C Khanduri stepped down owning responsibility for the poor performance in the just-concluded parliamentary elections as the party drew a blank in all the five Lok Sabha seats in the State.
Faced with a revolt in the party, he handed over his resignation to BJP president Rajnath Singh and said he would abide by the decision of the party’s central leadership.
The party decision to replace Khanduri came a day after the BJP core group met at the residence of L K Advani to discuss the issue.
The BJP has convened a legislature party meeting here on Wednesday to elect the new leader.
Among the frontrunners are Prakash Pant and Ramesh Pokhriyal.
Since Pant is considered to be a neutral person, he stands a better chance to succeed Khanduri.
Interacting with the media here on Tuesday, Khanduri drew a distinction between the outcome of the State and parliamentary elections.
“The party has consistently won the cooperative and panchayat elections, besides parliamentary and Assembly by-elections before the Lok Sabha polls on May 13”, he claimed.
Khanduri had estimated a victory in all the five or at least three Lok Sabha seats.
But the results came as a complete surprise as the party drew a blank in a l l the f ive seats.
But, the party won the Kapkot Assembly by-election on May 28. “So, what went wrong in the Lok Sabha polls has to be seriously examined,” Khanduri said.
Asked whether his decision to quit by owning up moral responsibility for the debacle would open the floodgates in the party, he said he had done what he thought was correct and as far as others are concerned, it was for the party to decide.
According to party sources, at the two-day BJP national executive that concluded on Sunday, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi had sought stability of tenure for the Chief Ministers, as the frequent change of Chief Ministers could hurt the party image and party interests.
