Beniwal sacked, Duggal new Mizoram governor

The Narendra Modi government Wednesday sacked Kamla Beniwal as Mizoram's governor, an official statement said.

Former union home secretary Vinod Kumar Duggal, who is the governor of Manipur, will hold the additional charge of Mizoram.

The 87-year-old Beniwal, who had a strained relationship with Modi when he was chief minister of Gujarat and she its governor, is the second governor to be removed from her post by the National Democratic Alliance government.

Puducherry Governor Virendra Kataria was sacked July 12.

A Rashtrapati Bhavan statement said: "The president has directed that Kamla Beniwal shall cease to hold the office of the governor of Mizoram."

It said Duggal will discharge the functions of the governor of Mizoram, in addition to his own duties, until further orders.

Beniwal, who was shifted to Mizoram July 6, was among the host of Congress leaders who were either transferred or asked to quit by the Modi government.

Among those who resigned after the government's signals were B.L. Joshi (Uttar Pradesh), M.K. Narayanan (West Bengal), Shekhar Dutt (Chhattisgarh), Ashwani Kumar (Nagaland), and B.V. Wanchoo (Goa)