Sheila Dikshit resigns as Kerala Governor

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, August 26, 2014:  Sheila Dikshit on Tuesday resigned as Kerala Governor amid indications that she might be shunted out of the southern state.

There have been reports that suggested that the former Delhi chief minister may be transferred to a state in the Northeast.

 

Dikshit on Monday met President Pranab Mukherjee and Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

Dikshit’s meetings came a day after her Maharashtra counterpart K. Sankaranarayanan quit, protesting his transfer to Mizoram. Five UPA-appointed governors have already resigned after being nudged by the NDA government.

Sources close to 76-year-old Dikshit, who took charge of Kerala Raj Bhawan only five months back, indicated that the former Delhi chief minister may put in her papers as she was under pressure to do so.

However, when asked whether she will resign, Dikshit refused to give a direct answer. "You will know, when I take any such decision," she said.

Dikshit, who served as Delhi chief minister from 1998 to 2013, was appointed Kerala governor in March just before the model code of conduct came into force for the Lok Sabha polls.

Earlier, the NDA government had transferred Kamla Beniwal as Mizoram governor from Gujarat Raj Bhawan and when she refused to resign, she was sacked three months before the end of her tenure in October.
  
Virendra Kataria, a former Congress leader, was also sacked as Puducherry lieutenant governor last month.
  
Five other governors -- M.K. Narayanan (West Bengal), Ashwani Kumar (Nagaland), B.L. Joshi (UP), B.V. Wanchoo (Goa) and Shekhar Dutt (Chhattisgarh) had put in their papers apparently after they were telephoned by the Union home secretary.

Uttarakhand Governor Aziz Qureshi has challenged Modi government’s moves to ease him out of office, bringing the controversy over removal of UPA-appointed governors under judicial scanner.



courtesy: NDTV