Dikshit meets Rajnath, Prez; speculation on resignation

Uttarakhand Governor Aziz Qureshi has moved a court, challenging the Narendra Modi government's pressure tactics to get UPA-appointed governors to quit

Kerala Governor Sheila Dikshit's 15-minute meeting with Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday fuelled speculation about her resignation. Her counterpart in Maharashtra, K Sankaranarayanan, resigned on Sunday after he was transferred to Mizoram.

Though Dikshit dismissed the rumours, her meeting with President Pranab Mukherjee afterwards has sparked more rumours.

The Congress refused to comment on Dikshit's moves. It said she was in a constitutional post, no longer in the party and the latter had no view on her rumoured resignation.

But reacting to the resignation of Sankaranarayanan, spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed said, "We have respect for the northeast. But the manner in which the last incumbent, Kamla Beniwal, was first appointed and shunted would make any self-respecting person doubtful about the move." He added being moved to a smaller state was often seen as a "punishment."

Looking at the rapid change of governors in the state of late, the Congress spokesperson said, the people of Mizoram had started questioning why their state was being used as a "dumping ground".

Sankaranarayanan said, "I quit as I did not want to go to Mizoram. When the Union home secretary telephoned (asking me) to relinquish office (sometime ago), I had said it was not the proper way and let it come from a proper person. Now, it has come and I decided to resign." Sankaranarayanan, along with several other United Progressive Alliance (UPA)-appointed governors, was asked to quit soon after the National Democratic Alliance came to power at the Centre.

Governors M K Narayanan (West Bengal), Ashwani Kumar (Nagaland), B L Joshi (UP) and Shekhar Dutt (Chhattisgarh) had resigned after they were apparently telephoned by the home secretary.

Uttarakhand Governor Aziz Qureshi has moved court, challenging the Narendra Modi government's alleged tactics to get UPA-appointed governors to quit.