New Delhi: The NDA government is planning to fill up vacancies of governors in nine states after the Budget session of Parliament as one incumbent is holding the charge of four states while five others are in-charge of at least two states each.
“We have to sit and decide… may be after the Parliament session,” Home Minister Rajnath Singh said when asked about possibilities of filling up vacancies in Raj Bhavans. There are vacancies in Raj Bhavans in Bihar, Punjab, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Manipur, Tripura and Telangana.
The post of Lieutenant Governor in Puducherry is also lying vacant. West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi is holding the additional charge of Bihar, Meghalaya and Mizoram while Nagaland Governor Padmanabha Acharya is in-charge of the Raj Bhavans in Assam and Tripura.
Haryana Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki has been given the additional charge of Punjab governor and administrator of Chandigarh, Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh is holding the additional charge of Himachal Pradesh.
Uttarakhand Governor K K Paul is in-charge of the Raj Bhavan of Manipur too. E S L Narasimhan, who was the Governor of undivided Andhra Pradesh, continues to be the Governor of both Telangana and residuary Andhra Pradesh after the bifurcation while Lieutenant Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands Lt. Gen (retd) Ajay Kumar Singh is holding the additional charge of the LG of Puducherry.
The Narendra Modi government, which assumed charge in May 2014, has appointed governors to 11 states. They are Ram Naik (Uttar Pradesh), C Vidyasagar Rao (Maharashtra), P Sathasivam (Kerala), Vajubhai Vala (Karnataka), Om Prakash Kohli (Gujarat), Balram Das Tandon (Chhattisgarh), Mridula Sinha (Goa), Kalyan Singh (Rajasthan), Keshari Nath Tripathi (West Bengal), Solanki (Haryana) and Padmanabha Acharya (Nagaland).
Kamla Beniwal, who had a running battle with Narendra Modi when he was the Gujarat Chief Minister and she the Governor of the state, was sacked after being transferred to Mizoram.
Aziz Qureshi, who had moved Supreme Court objecting to the Union Home Secretary nudging governors to quit office, was first shifted to Mizoram from Uttarakhand and was finally sacked on March 28.
Similarly, the Lt Governor of Puducherry, Virendra Kataria was also shown the door by the government. UPA-appointed governors Sheila Dikshit (Kerala), M K Narayanan (West Bengal), Ashwani Kumar (Nagaland), B L Joshi (UP), B V Wanchoo (Goa), Shekhar Dutt (Chhattisgarh) and V K Duggal (Manipur) were forced to resign after the NDA government came to power. V Purushothaman, Governor of Mizoram, had resigned after he was transferred to Nagaland, while Maharashtra Governor K Sankaranarayanan tendered his resignation when he was shifted to Mizoram.
The previous UPA government-appointed governors and LGs are continuing in office in nine states and two union territories respectively.
They are K Rosaiah (Tamil Nadu), S C Jamir (Odisha), Ram Naresh Yadav (Madhya Pradesh), Syed Ahmed (Jharkhand), N N Vohra (Jammu and Kashmir), Shriniwas Dadasaheb Patil (Sikkim), Narasimhan (Andhra Pradesh and Telangana), Lt General (retd) Nirbhay Sharma (Arunachal Pradesh) and K K Paul (Uttarakhand and Manipur).
The two UPA government appointed LGs who continue to be in office are Najeeb Jung (Delhi) and Ajay Kumar Singh (Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Puducherry).