Showing governors the door: Why this is no clean up

Does the exodus of governors indicate an NDA clean up? Not quite.

Only those governors have been advised to put in their papers who have either completed their term or are about to do so. Uttar Pradesh governor BL Joshi, for example, has already created history, as one of the longest serving Governors in the country. He has already completed 10 full years in office, first five years in three different states, Delhi, Uttrakhand and Meghalaya and since July 2009 he has been in Raj Bhawan of India’s most populous state.

Article 156 of the constitution deals with term of office of Governor: “The Governor shall hold office during the pleasure of the President. (2) The Governor may, by writing under his hand addressed to the President, resign his office (3) Subject to the foregoing provisions of this article, a Governor shall hold office for a term of five years from the date on which he enters upon his office, provided that a Governor shall, notwithstanding the expiration of his term, continue to hold office until his successor enters upon his office.”

Joshi’s five-year term had been over for long and there was no case of propriety involved if he were to be replaced by the Modi government. By resigning from the post, Joshi was not being generous or humble, he has just been practical – leave with grace than be replaced. Karnataka Governor HR Bhardwaj’s term in office was also to expire in a week’s time.

The change of Governors was always poised to be a big story. The irony is that the biggest obstacle is a Supreme Court order of 2010 passed on appeal of a BJP MP BP Singhal, seeking a direction against the UPA government which in 2004, immediately after assuming power, had summarily removed governors who had formerly been BJP leaders.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh, whose ministry is supposed to push for removal and appoint of governors, is thus giving a moral twist to the issue. “If I were in their position, I would have quit a long time ago", he said.

But the Congress leadership has decided not to make it any easier for Modi government. The “political” appointees seem to be making a common cause with Assam Governor, JB Patnaik asking, “Why should I resign?”

Patnaik’s term ends in December this year. In another 10 days, Tripura Governor Devanand Konwar will complete five years on office. Three other Governor’s will complete their term in a couple of months. They include S C Jamir (Odisha), Jagannath Pahadiya (Haryana) and Margaret Alva (Rajasthan). Alva met Prime Minister Narendra Modi but there is no clarity yet as to how long she will continue. Other governors whose term ends later this year or early next year are J B Patnaik (Assam), Shivraj V Patil (Punjab) and Urmila Singh (Himachal Pradesh).

But the two governors who the Modi government would like to axe at the earliest are Kamala Beniwal and Sheila Dikshit. The BJP had on several occasions petitioned President to remove Kamla Beniwal from the post of Gujarat Governor. Beniwal has another four months left on office before her term expires. It will be interesting to see how Modi deals with her now.

Sheila Dikshit is in no mood to oblige the Modi government. Sheila’s last minute appointment as Kerala Governor to beat the model code of conduct deadline was designed to keep her for a long time in the governor’s post. Everyone including her knew that UPA was not going to return to power and she had to deal with a different government, said a local Congress leader. Her son and Congress spokesperson Sandip Dikshit gave enough indications that she would not resign and wait for the centre to make the first move.

Modi government is yet to make move its first appointee to the Raj Bhawan but since its own list is long, it will not have much patience for governors who have few weeks or months left. But at the same time it is hesitant to make a beginning that could be marred by charges of vindictiveness.