JOIN USGovernors continued to grab the headlines on Wednesday with E S L Narasimhan (Andhra Pradesh and Telangana) facing CBI queries in the AgustaWestland chopper deal and Sheila Dikshit (Kerala) denying that she has been told by the Centre to quit or shift to the North-East.
There are also reports that Mizoram Governor Vakkom Purushothaman may put in his papers soon as he is miffed at his recent transfer to Nagaland.
Dikshit visited the capital and called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh. The Prime Minister’s Office described the meeting as a “courtesy call” while the Home Ministry uploaded a picture of the meeting on Twitter. Later, the Kerala Governor said she has not received any hint from the Centre to quit and was not aware of any move to transfer her.
On reports that she may be transferred to a north-eastern state, Dikshit said, “I do not know what will happen in the next 10 days or 10 months.” Speculation has been rife that she may be moved to Nagaland following reports that Purushot-haman may quit.
Meanwhile, Narasimhan became the third governor to be quizzed as a “witness” by the CBI in the investigations into the over Rs 3,700-crore bribery scandal in connection with the VVIP chopper deal. Like former governors M K Narayanan and B V Wanchoo, he was part of the meeting in which the technical specifications of the chopper were changed to favour AgustaWestland.
Sources said Narasimhan’s statement was recorded at the Raj Bhavan in Hyderabad and questions related to change in the service ceiling of the helicopters were posed to him.
Narayanan and Wanchoo quit after questioning by the CBI recently. However, the fate of Narasimhan is not clear as the Centre may prefer his continuance in the gubernatorial post since he is overseeing the tricky post-bifurcation process of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.