New Delhi, July 7: Gujarat Governor Kamla Beniwal, who had a testy relationship with Narendra Modi during his tenure as the chief minister, was transferred to remote Mizoram on Sunday.
The move is seen as an indication to Beniwal to quit the gubernatorial post before her term ends on October 14. Sources said she had not responded to the Centre’s recent nudge to quit the post. A Rashtrapati Bhawan communiqué said Rajasthan Governor Margaret Alva would be in-charge governor of Gujarat until regular arrangements were made.
Mizoram Governor Vakkom Purushothaman has been transferred to Nagaland. Former CBI director Ashwani Kumar, considered close to the Congress leadership, resigned as the governor of Nagaland recently. Purushothaman would also hold additional charge as governor of Tripura, a post that fell vacant after the superannuation of Devananda Konwar on June 28.
Beniwal and Modi were at loggerheads when she appointed Justice (retd) R A Mehta as the Lokayukta without consulting the Gujarat government in 2011. She had contended that her actions were within the ambit of the law which gave the governor the right to make the appointment without consulting the state government when there is an extreme delay. The Gujarat government, then led by Modi, had moved the Supreme Court which upheld the appointment.
Beniwal’s name had also figured in an alleged land scam in which she was accused of being “gifted” land at a cheap price by the Rajasthan government headed by the then Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.
Beniwal’s transfer has also set in motion the process to appoint new governors following the resignation of B L Joshi (Uttar Pradesh), Shekhar Dutt (Chhattisgarh), Ashwani Kumar (Nagaland), M K Narayanan (West Bengal) and B V Wanchoo (Goa). The five former governors were considered to be close to the UPA government.
The names of BJP leaders Kalyan Singh, Lalji Tandon, O Rajagopal, Ram Naik, Keshari Nath Tripathi are doing the rounds. While Rajagopal is tipped to be the Governor of Karnataka, Kalyan Singh and Lalji Tandon are yet to give their consent for their appointment as governors. BJP sources said Singh and Tandon were unwilling to give up their stakes in Uttar Pradesh politics.
A few other governors appointed by the UPA continue to remain in office. They include K Sankaranarayanan (Maharashtra), Sheila Dikshit (Kerala), Jagannath Pahadia (Haryana) and Shivraj Patil (Punjab) among others.
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