Chhattisgarh Governor Shekhar Dutt sent his resignation to President Pranab Mukharjee on Wednesday night. “Shri Shekhar Dutt has put in his paper to the president of India,” said Mr. Aman Singh, Secretary, Public Relations, Chhattisgarh in a statement issued to the media.
Mr. Dutt’s term was to end in January next year. An IAS officer of 1969 batch of Madhya Pradesh cadre, he served as Defence Secretary and the Deputy National Security Adviser under the UPA government before being appointed as Chhattisgarh Governor in January 2010.
Mr. Dutt’s resignation comes amid reports of pressure on UPA-appointed Governors to resign. However, the exact reason of his resignation could not be confirmed. On Tuesday, >Uttar Pradesh Governor B.L. Joshi submitted his resignation to President Pranab Mukherjee.
CM blamed
Meanwhile, the Congress blamed Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh for the resignation of the Governor. “There was a long meeting between the CM and honourable Governor on Tuesday. So there may be some connection between the meeting and his resignation and there are speculations that the CM might have pressurised him to resign,” said Shailesh Nitin Trivedi, Chhattisgarh Congress spokesperson.
“The Governor’s post is a constitutional post and there should be no politics about it but the BJP is playing politics with it. The BJP wants to rehabilitate some of its old veteran leaders and to do so the Central government has side-stepped the Constitution,” Mr.Trivedi alleged.
