Uttar Pradesh Governor Bl Joshi on Tuesday resigned from his post amid a strong possibility of the BJP-led NDA Government effecting a major gubernatorial shake-up in at least half-a-dozen more States in the next few days in a bid to accommodate its own men.
President Pranab Mukherjee accepted Joshi’s resignation and delegated Uttarakhand Governor Aziz Qureshi the additional charge of UP till the time a regular arrangement is made. Joshi, a former IPS officer of the Rajasthan cadre, was serving his second term as the UP Governor, having been sworn-in again in March this year. He had earlier been the lt-Governor of Delhi and the Governor of Meghalaya and Uttarakhand.
Though the Government remained tightlipped, sources said Union Home Secretary Anil Goswami had called up West Bengal Governor MK Narayanan, Sheila Dikshit (Kerala), Margaret Alva (Rajasthan), Kamla Beniwal (Gujarat), Bl Joshi (UP), K Sankaranarayanan (Mahar- ashtra), Devendra Konwar (Tripura) and Karnataka Governor HR Bhardwaj advising them to put in their papers.
Dikshit, however, refused to comment on the issue saying: “I can’t react to rumours.” Assam Governor JB Patnaik and Rajasthan Governor Margaret Alva’s office also denied having received any such call. Bhardwaj asserted he will not resign. But Home Minister Rajnath Singh said he would have resigned had he been in their place.
However, sources said the BJP Government doesn’t want to indulge in immediate massive changes triggering a major confrontation and a legal tussle. It is treading cautiously by mulling the option of leaving those Governors whose tenure is nearing an end untouched. And in some cases it might shift out Governors to smaller States. But it certainly wants those having a longer tenure to quit. Thus, Alva, whose term ends in August, is not likely to be shifted out.
The Congress termed the Modi Government’s move as political vendetta while the Samajwadi Party called the BJP’s act as the “start of saffronisation” of the country. Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said this step will have serious repercussions.
The Congress flashed the Supreme Court judgement prohibiting new Governments from removing Governors, which, ironically, had come following its own act of removing NDA appointees Vishnu Kant Shastri (UP), Kailashpati Mishra (Gujarat), Babu Parmanand ( Haryana) and Kedarnath Sahni (Goa) from the Raj Bhawans after the UPA took over in 2004.
The Governor’s office is often the target of political vendetta after change of regime at the Centre. With the Modi Government determined to make changes to accommodate its own people, particularly in those States that are close to Assembly elections, the Congress and the BJP are heading for a political confrontation. Kalyan Singh, MM Joshi, VK Malhotra are some of the BJP leaders whose names have been doing the rounds as replacements.
According to sources in case the Governors refuse to leave on their own, then the Union Cabinet may make recommendations seeking removal of a few by trying to invoke the probity factor against them. Incidentally, Bhardwaj, Patnaik and Alva, who were in Delhi, met the President and the Prime Minister in a courtesy call.