Sankaranarayanan resigned from post after being transferred to Mizoram
Hours after he was transferred and appointed as the Mizoram Governor for the remainder period of his term, Maharashtra Governor K Sankaranarayanan on Sunday afternoon resigned from his post, expressing his inability to accept the new assignment.
Gujarat Governor Om Prakash Kohli, whom the President assigned the charge as the Governor of Maharashtra in addition to his own duties, was sworn into the new office at a ceremony held at Raj Bhavan on Sunday evening.
Chief Justice of Bombay High Court Justice Mohit Shah administered the oath of office to Kohli, who will be holding the additional charge as the Maharashtra, until a regular arrangement is made.
When Chief Secretary Swadhin Kshatriya read out the warrant of appointment of Kohli issued by the President. Avinash Kohli, wife of Kohli, outgoing Governor Sankaranarayanan, his wife Radha Sankaranarayanan, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, Speaker of Maharashtra legislative Assembly Dilip Walse Patil, Minister for Protocol Suresh Shetty and senior Government officials were present.
Earlier around 4 pm, responding to the transfer order issued by President Pranab Mukherjee at the behest of BJP-led NDA Government at the Centre, Sankaran-arayanan sent his resignation to Rashtrapati Bhavan.
“I am in receipt of your order appointing me as the as the Governor of Mizoram. However, I express my inability to accept this assignment. Further, I tender my resignation as the Governor of Maharashtra,” 82-year-old Sankaranarayanan stated in his brief resignation letter to the President.
Talking to mediapersons, Sankaranarayanan said: “Today I resigned. I have been here for four-and-a-half years. It is not possible for me to go to Mizoram now. There is no other reason”.
Declining to spell out reasons for his resignation, Sankaranarayanan said: “It is not right for me to reveal reasons behind my resignation, because my feeling is that I have to honour the Constitution”.
Indicating that he would soon return to active politics, Sankaranarayanan said: “As the Governor, I wasn’t involved in politics. From today, I will definitely be involved in active politics”.
Replying to a question, Sankaranarayanan said that he had “respected the Constitution” by submitting his resignation. “During my tenure here as Governor, and even earlier in Jharkhand and Nagaland, I never brought politics into my functioning,” the outgoing Governor said.
In an indirect criticism of the NDA Government for its decision to transfer him, Sankaranarayanan said: he said: “No government is permanent, no individuals are permanent and they have to change some time.”
Sankaranarayanan thanked the people of Maharashtra for all their love and support during his tenure as Governor of this State. “From tomorrow, I shall have no restrictions, I can do whatever I want, go wherever I want and speak on any topic,” he said in reply to a question.
Two Governors - Bl Joshi from Uttar Pradesh and Shekhar Dutt from Chhattisgarh - had earlier resigned from their posts. Sankaranarayanan was among the UPA-appointed Governors who had received phone calls from Home Secretary Anil Goswami seeking their resignations.
On June 18, Sankaranarayanan had gone on record saying that he had received two such calls, but would not contemplate resigning unless asked by “an appropriate decision-making authority.”