Sources in the BJP said the way the State machinery handled the chief minister's open argument with a lady teacher during his Janta Darbar -- and how the incident was allowed to escalate into a national issue -- showed that the State government's machinery was not handling the matters well.
Trivendra Rawat raised the hackles of the party leadership when he surprisingly attended a mango party thrown up by his predecessor Harish Rawat, who was engaged in a direct battle with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party chief Amit Shah a couple of years ago in the Uttarakhand High Court over his government's survival.
Sources in the party said Harish Rawat had not been getting much attention from his own party and the chief minister's visit to his house may provide him with the required political oxygen to stay afloat in Uttarakhand politics.
A recent decision by the chief minister to review the state of progress in only BJP -held constituencies while ignoring those of the Congress has also drawn criticism from various quarters.