Prez seeks govt’s view on Kalyan Singh remark

There was uncertainty over the fate of Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh as President Ram Nath Kovind sought views from the Union government over his remarks pitching for a re-election of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Kovind, who returned from his four-nation tour on Thursday morning, forwarded to the Home Ministry a letter from the Election Commission which felt that the Governor’s remarks addressing BJP workers at his residence in Aligarh were violative of the model code of conduct.

“All of us are BJP workers and we want the party to win. We want Modiji to become the prime minister. It is necessary that Modiji becomes the prime minister again,” Kalyan Singh had said on March 23 in Aligarh.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot had termed the remarks of the state’s Governor as “unfortunate” and unsuitable to the dignity of the post.

The Congress held that Kalyan Singh’s remarks had tarnished the established traditions and accepted norms of the office of Governor and that he had no right to remain in office.

“We had moved the President of India. We have requested his Secretariat to give us time so that we first meet him and urge upon him to remove Kalyan Singh as Governor,” Congress chief spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala said.

After Singh’s remarks were reported in the media, the Commission had sought a report from the Chief Electoral Officer of Uttar Pradesh along with the video-recording of the Rajasthan Governor’s comments and the transcript.

On Tuesday, the Commission wrote a letter to the President after examining the report from the CEO in Uttar Pradesh. It held that the Rajasthan Governor had lowered the dignity of the office by making such comments.

The model code of conduct came into force on March 10, the day the EC announced the schedule of the LS elections as well as the elections to the legislative assemblies in Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim.