With Nagaland Governor Ashwani Kumar resigning on Wednesday, the NDA Government appears to be on track in its plan to get rid of UPA appointees in Raj Bhavans.
After the Governors of Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh put in their papers about a week ago, Mr. Kumar, a former CBI Director, became the third Governor to have resigned after the NDA government nudged at least seven of them to quit in the wake of change of government at the Centre.
All the three Governors who have resigned are former bureaucrats.
Mr. Kumar’s resignation came amid reports that the NDA government may be appointing Governors before the commencement of the Budget session of Parliament from July 7.
Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said he was not in a position to comment on whether Goa and West Bengal Governors B.V. Wanchoo and M.K. Narayanan should continue in their posts.
The two Governors face the possibility of being examined as witnesses by the CBI in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam. Party sources said the names that are in the reckoning for gubernatorial positions include the former Union Finance and External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha, former Union Minister Ram Naik, former U.P. Chief Minister Kalyan Singh, former MP Vijay Kumar Malhotra, former Speaker of the U.P. Assembly Kesari Nath Tripathi and senior party leaders Lalji Tandon and Kailash Joshi.
Considered a heavyweight in Uttar Pradesh, Mr. Tandon had vacated the Lucknow seat for party president Rajanth Singh for the 16th Lok Sabha elections, while Mr. Joshi is a former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh and was a member of the 14th and 15th Lok Sabha.
