The Congress on Tuesday said that the NDA government was indulging in an act of “political vendetta” by asking Governors appointed by the UPA government to resign. It stressed that this “dictatorial step” would have “serious repercussions.”
The CPI(M) called it “unconstitutional” and “unethical.”
Citing a Supreme Court directive of 2010 on the removal of Governors, the Congress leader Ajay Maken said here on Tuesday that Governors, as constitutional authorities, should not be subjected to a public debate. “We ask the Central government to ensure constitutional appropriateness. The May 2010 Supreme Court order should be followed in letter and spirit,” he said.
Citing the same order, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said the Centre did not have the brief to remove Governors in an arbitrary and capricious manner with a change of guard. In a statement here, Mr. Azad stressed that such a move would “have a debilitating impact on our constitutional democracy.”
While the majority view in the Congress is that the government should not ask Governors to step down, a former Congress Working Committee member Harikesh Bahadur said that as the Attorney-General, the Governors too should quit soon after a change of guard at the Centre.
Sitaram Yechury of the CPI(M) stressed that the Governors should be changed only with the concurrence of the State governments and those holding these gubernatorial positions should not be treated as political appointees.
Quoting the Supreme Court directive, BJP leader Sushil Modi tweeted: “SC has said go by reason not whim while removing Guv [Governors]. A cause must in fact exist. Sufficient ground for removal in light of SC judgment.”
While the BJP did not give an official comment, it described the move to change Governors as just “government business.” Mr. Sushil Modi’s tweets sent out a different message: “In 2004 4 Guv appointed during NDA’s regime were removed arbitrarily. Why appointee of Sonia Rahul be allowed to continue?”
Senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, too, tweeted: “Governors should have resigned themselves, most of them were appointed by Sonia Gandhi and not on merit.”
