New Government Contemplates To Replace Governors of 5 States

BANGALORE: With the Narendra Modi-led NDA government taking charge at the centre, the fate of UPA appointed governors also seems uncertain. The newly formed government is contemplating on replacing at least five Governors appointed by the outgoing Congress-led UPA government, reports Zee News.

A change in the government at the Centre has left many of senior Congress leaders such as Kerala governor Sheila Dikshit, her UP counterpart B L Joshi and Shivraj Patil in Punjab on new government’s radar.

As per the media reports, Union Home Secretary Anil Goswami has called up six governors to inform the government's decision. West Bengal governor M K Narayanan, Sheila Dikshit (Kerala), Margaret Alva (Rajasthan), Kamla Beniwal (Gujarat), K Sankaranarayanan (Maharashtra) and Devendra Konwar in Tripura have been asked to put in their papers.

Under the Constitution, the tenure of governors is normally five years, but the President, with the advice of the Prime Minister, can remove them from their posts earlier, or the governors may resign of their own.

Senior BJP leaders like Murli Manohar Joshi, Kalyan Singh and VK Malhotra might be appointed as governors. Other names like to include in the run for Governors are expelled BJP leader Jaswant Singh, former Lucknow MP Lalji Tandon, senior party leader from Madhya Pradesh Kailash Joshi and former Speaker of Uttar Pradesh Kesari Nath Tripathi. Since the tenure of seven governors will get over by the end of this year and four more by January next year, the BJP still has a large opprtunities to appoint many of its political leaders.

This move by the Modi led government is believed to be retaliation of the UPA decision to sacked governors appointed during the NDA regime when it came to power in 2004. Amid all these, Uttar Pradesh Governor BL Joshi has already sent his resignation letter to the Union Home Ministry, sources in MHA said.

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