Uttarakhand came back to haunt the central BJP as “17 dissident MLAs from the state submitted their resignations to party chief Rajnath Singh demanding the removal of Chief Minister B C Khanduri, said a dissident BJP leader. Trivendra Rawat, Prakash Pant and Beena Mahraia — all Bhagat Singh Koshiyari supporters — are among those said to have resigned.

However, Khanduri told The Indian Express that BJP national president Rajnath Singh has denied having received any such resignations.

Former Chief Minister Bhagat Singh Koshiyari would “up the offensive on Tuesday”, claimed dissident leaders. Some of the dissidents claimed that they could directly tender their resignation to the Assembly Speaker.

A month ago, the dissidents had met top central leadership, including L K Advani. Their leadership had asked the warring groups to bury their differences till the panchayat elections were over. The dissidents now claim that they shouldn’t “be asked to defer their move till the LS elections”.