Sheila Dikshit’s Delhi Trip Triggers Talk of Resignation
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NEW DELHI : Sheila Dikshit’s itinerary in Delhi today commissioned talk of her resignation as the Governor of Kerala.Ms Dikshit, 76, met this morning with Home Minister Rajnath Singh at a time when the new BJP government has been confronting governors across the country who were appointed by the previous government. She then met with President Pranab Mukherjee.
“My resignation is a speculation right now… I have always met the President when in Delhi,” the Governor said before meeting the Presiden .The new administration has unsubtly indicated it is keen to remove those governors with choices of its own. Ms Dikshit is seen as among those who are pushing back; another, Aziz Qureshi, Governor of Uttarakhand, has taken the Centre to the Supreme Court, alleging that the President of the country alone can push him from office.
Ms Dikshit was appointed Governor of Kerala in March after she led the Congress to a humiliating defeat in the Delhi election. She had served three terms as the Chief Minister of the capital. Her appointment as Governor was denounced by political opponents as a protectionist move by her party to grant her immunity from a possible investigation into allegations of corruption.
The Congress and other opposition parties have accused the BJP government of violating a Supreme Court order from 2010 that says governors cannot be removed if the government at the Centre changes. Last night, K Sankaranarayanan quit as Maharashtra Governor after being told he was being transferred to Mizoram – a move designed to prompt his resignation, according to many. Mr Sankaranarayanan told reporters that once out of office, his “tongue will be two inches longer” hinting he will speak freely about the government’s attempts to force him from office.
Four governors have resigned in the last few months, allegedly in response to phone calls from the Centre that warned them of dismissal if they did not step down.Last month, the government sacked Kamla Beniwal as Governor of Mizoram just a month after transferring her there from Gujarat, where she had shared a fractious relationship with Narendra Modi while he was Chief Minister.
