Sheila was one of Kerala's shortest-serving guvs

Sheila Dikshit announced her resignation as governor of Kerala in New Delhi on Tuesday, bringing the curtains down on one of the shortest terms served by a governor in the state. 

Dikshit who had assumed office as the 22nd governor of Kerala in March, stepped down before completing even six months in office.  P Shivshankar, who was governor of Kerala between November 1995 and May 1996, had a similar six-month term in office. 

M O H Farook (September 2011 to January 2012) and T N Chaturvedi (February to June 2004) served for shorter periods. But while Chaturvedi, then governor of Karnataka, only had additional charge of Kerala following the death of Sikander Bakht, Farook had died while in office.  

Dikshit’s elevation as governor of Kerala had seen protests erupting in the state in the backdrop of allegations that the former United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre was providing the 76-year-old former Delhi chief minister immunity from corruption charges. 

The Kerala unit of the Aam Aadmi Party had staged a series of protests even before the Congress veteran took over as governor.

The BJP’s state unit had in June decided to boycott events attended by her.  A BJP spokesperson on Tuesday said the party had always maintained that a leader facing serious corruption charges should not serve as the governor of a state. “She should have quit the office much earlier,” V V Rajesh told Deccan Herald.