UP Governor Joshi resigns, more on the way out

Uttar Pradesh Governor B L Joshi resigned today as the Narendra Modi government set in motion the process of showing the door to those appointed by the previous UPA regime that includes Kerala Governor Shiela Dikshit and four more.

The new Government is also working on removal of politcal appointees as members in bodies like National Disaster Management Authority.

78-year-old Joshi, a former police service official known for his proximity to Nehru-Gandhi family, sent his resignation to Home Ministry today, a day after the Centre made known to some of the Governors that they quit in the wake of change in government.

Union Home Secretary Anil Goswami is understood to have called the Governors and conveyed the new Government's desire that they step down, a move the Congress and CPI-M slammed as unconstitutional and unethical.

But BJP leaders felt there was nothing wrong in such a decision.

Among those who are understood to have been called are Maharashtra Governor K Sankaranarayanan, a Congressman from Kerala, Diskhit, a former Delhi Chief Minister who was appointed just on the eve of announcement of Lok Sabha polls, West Bengal Governor M K Narayanan, Nagaland Governor Ashwani Kumar, a former CBI Director.

Kamla Beniwal, who did not share good relations with Modi during his tenure as Chief Minister in Gujarat, may also be on the way out.

By a strange coincidence, a number of Governors were in the national capital and some of them met President Pranab Mukherjee fuelling speculation that they could have resigned.

However, Karanatka Governor H R Bhardawaj, whose tenure is ending this month, denied that he has resigned. Similar was the stand taken by Assam Governor J B Patnaik, who like Bhardawaj is also a Congressman, said he has not resigned.

"If there is a rumour (about his resignation) I cannot help," Patnaik said and added that meeting the President, who is his friend, did not mean that he was resigning.

Dikshit said she cannot comment on media reports.

Meanwhile, Rajasthan Governor Margaret Alva met Prime Minister Narendra Modi which was described as a courtesy call. She also called on the President.

Alva, who completes her five year term in August, is understood to have not been sounded out yet.

Slamming the move to remove Governors, Congress termed it as "political vendetta" and said the "dictatorial" step will have "serious repercussions".

Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad reminded the government about the May 2010 judgement of the Supreme Court and said the Centre does not have the brief to remove the Governors "in arbitrary and capricious manner with the change of power".

In a statement here, Azad called the "move to remove the Governors of various states as dictatorial".

CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechurry said the move to replace the Governors was "not ethical" just because they have been appointed by the previous Government.