While the central government considers replacing seven governors, who were appointed during Congress led UPA-II tenure, Governors of three state— Karnataka’s HR Bharadwaj, Uttar Pradesh’ BL Joshi, and Assam’s JB Patnaik, have already resigned from their posts.
While Rajasthan Governor Margaret Alva and West Bengal Governor MK Narayanan, are also supposed to be considering putting in their paper.
The resultant vacancies could help the BJP assuage disgruntled leaders like Kailash Joshi, Lalji Tandon, Kalyan Singh, Balram Das Tandon, KC Nath Tripathi and VK Malhotra who could not fight elections.
Other governors who stand in the line of fire include Kerala Governor Sheila DikshitWest Bengal Governor MK Narayanan, Governor of Nagaland Ashwani Kumar, Maharashtra Governor K Sankaranarayanan, and Chhattisgarh Governor Shekhar Dutt.
As wicked as it may look, this action isn’t very different from what the Congress-led UPA had undertaken when they came to power in 2004, replacing the NDA government. The UPA, too, had asked for Governors to be removed ahead of their tenure.
Uttar Pradesh’s Vishnu Kant Shastri, Haryana’s Babu Parmanand, Goa’s Kidar Nath Sahani and Gujarat’s Kailashpati Mishra were among those who were replaced by the UPA government.