No one asked me to resign, says Tirath Singh Rawat

New Delhi, Aug 1 Former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat, who resigned within four months, has said that he took the decision to avoid a constitutional and legal crisis in the state after consulting the BJP central leadership and no one asked him to put in his papers.

In an exclusive interview with , he also said that when he was appointed Chief Minister of the state, "some people" started a conspiracy to malign his image.

Q: What would you say about your short tenure as chief minister of Uttarakhand?

A: No one asked me to resign. After consulting the party central leadership, I took the decision to resign from the office of chief minister to avoid a constitutional and legal crisis. I thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president J.P. Nadda and all the central leadership for showing faith and trust in me for giving me an opportunity to lead Uttarakhand. It all happened suddenly in the middle of the budget session when the party leadership asked me to take over as the chief minister of Uttarakhand.

But due to some constitutional provisions a crisis was in the making. To avoid the constitutional and legal crisis, I decided to resign after consulting the party leadership and they supported my decision.

Q: At the start of your tenure as Chief Minister, lots of statements made headlines due to wrong reasons. What would you say about those controversial comments?

A: All the statements, which made headlines, were taken out of context and it was done in a well planned strategy by some people as part of a conspiracy. I come from an ideological background and spoke about what is good for Janta