DEHARADUN: BJP MLA Kailash Chandra Gahtori on Thursday resigned from the Champawat seat, paving the way for Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami to contest the assembly bypoll from there.
Soon after submitting his resignation as Champawat MLA, Gahtori said he quit his seat to enable the "young leader" to work full term to meet the expectations of the central leadership.
Gahtori submitted his resignation to Uttarakhand Assembly Speaker Ritu Khanduri at her official residence in Yamuna colony, BJP sources here said.
Pradesh BJP president Madan Kaushik, Cabinet ministers Chandan Ram Das, Saurabh Bahuguna and MLA Khajan Das were present when Gahtori handed over his resignation to the Speaker. Soon after Gahtori quit, Khanduri said his resignation has been accepted.
After submitting his resignation to the Speaker, Gahtori visited the chief minister's residence.
Talking to reporters after quitting as MLA, Gahotri said, "Six months ago, poll analysts were not giving the BJP more than 20 seats in the assembly polls.
But the chief minister worked hard and people gave 47 out of 70 assembly seats to the party. "It was no less than a miracle. It was possible because of Dhami's young leadership. I thought he deserves a full five-year term to meet the expectations of the party's central leadership from him and so I vacated my seat," he added.
Although the BJP won the recent Uttarakhand assembly elections, Dhami himself could not save his own Khatima seat, losing it to Bhuvan Chandra Kapri of the Congress. He needs to become a member of the state assembly within six months of being sworn in to continue as the chief minister.
Gahotri had offered to vacate his seat for Dhami soon after the latter was sworn in as chief minister. "It will be an honour for me if the chief minister contests from Champawat", Gahtori had said earlier.
After the Champawat MLA quit his seat, Pradesh BJP president Madan Kaushik said the party workers in Champawat had sent a proposal for fielding the chief minister from that seat and Gahtori who is very popular in his constituency had expressed his desire to vacate the seat for him.
Kaushik said the party is ready for the by-poll whenever it takes place.