CM Pushkar Dhami is my younger brother: Uttarakhand minister Harak Rawat

Putting to rest speculation about his resignation, Uttarakhand Forest Minister Harak Singh Rawat said Pushkar Singh Dhami is his younger brother who has always stood by him through thick and thin

Putting to rest speculation about his resignation, Uttarakhand Forest Minister Harak Singh Rawat on Sunday said Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami is his younger brother who has always stood by him through thick and thin.

In a video message, Rawat also said he prays that the BJP will return to power in the state with full majority after next year's assembly elections under Dhami's leadership.

The video came after Rawat held a six-hour meeting with Dhami at the latter's residence on Saturday night. The two had dinner together.

Speculation about Rawat's resignation began doing rounds on Friday after he walked out of a cabinet meeting in a huff.

Sources said Rawat left the meeting as he was angry that a proposal for a medical college in Kotdwar, his constituency, was not being cleared by the cabinet.

On Saturday, BJP MLA Umesh Sharma Kau, who had been tasked with dissuading Rawat, said the minister's grievance had been addressed and no one was going anywhere.

In the video, Rawat said, "Pushkar bhai is my younger brother who has always stood by me through thick and thin. I give him my blessings as an elder brother. I pray that under his leadership, the BJP comes to power again in the state with full majority."

Dhami is working honestly for the people and the remote hilly areas of the state in a non-partisan manner, he said.

"In him, the state has for the first time got a chief minister whose heart is full of sympathy for the poor, the youth and women," the minister added.

Before meeting Rawat on Saturday, Dhami had said the minister's grievance was a "family matter" and it would be resolved by sitting together.

Dhami has accepted Rawat's proposal for a medical college in Kotdwar and agreed to release the first instalment of Rs 20 crore for the project on Monday.