Chhattisgarh Governor Resigns, Others Ask for Written Orders

While Chhattisgarh Governor Shekhar Dutt tendered his resignation to the President on Wednesday night, other UPA regime governors refused to comply with the NDA government's insistence to relinquish their posts.

Dutt's resignation came after the Uttar Pradesh governor B L Joshi's on Tuesday, which was accepted by President Pranab Mukherjee. Uttarakhand governor Aziz Qureshi has now been handed charge of UP.

Dutt, an IAS officer, served as Defence Secretary and the Deputy National Security Adviser under the UPA government and was appointed as Chhattisgarh governor in 2010. His term as Chhattisgarh's governor was to end in January 2015.

Nagaland governor Ashwani Kumar may resign too, according to Times of India.

The UPA appointed governors all over India received calls from Home Secretary Anil Goswami asking them to file in their resignations. Although the two governors have put in their papers, other governors have refused to follow suit and have instead demanded formal letters seeking their resignation.

"I didn't reply. The Governor's post is a constitutional post. He is a representative of the President; he is appointed by the President. No responsible person has asked me anything in writing to relieve the post... If an appropriate decision making authority asks me (to quit), I will definitely think over it," NDTV quoted Maharashtra Governor K Sankaranarayanan, who is serving his second term as governor.

Kerala governor Sheila Dikshit, who was the Chief Minister of Delhi until she lost to Arvind Kejriwal in the December 2013 election, too received a call from Goswami asking her to quit on her own. But she refused to do so, demanding written orders. "Who is the Home Secretary to call a Governor?" her son Sandeep Dikshit retorted.

Meanwhile, the NDA government claim that the Congress and Samajwadi Party have been unconstitutional, due to which it has been forced to disobey the Supreme Court's rule, which denies any right to the ruling party from removing a governor unless any misconduct or irregularities are witnessed.

Amid these accusations, the CBI will investigate governors B.V. Wanchoo of Goa, M.K. Narayanan of West Bengal and Dikhshit for their alleged roles in the AgustaWestland and Delhi Jal Board scams respectively, according to reports.