Mumbai/New Delhi: Upset over being transferred to Mizoram, Maharashtra governor K. Sankarnarayanan resigned from his post on Sunday. Announcing his decision, Mr Sankarnarayanan said the post of the governor should be above politics. But he refused to comment on whether his transfer was a political decision or not. He also announced he would soon return to active politics.
Earlier, a Rashtrapati Bhavan communiqué issued late on Saturday night said Mr Sankaranarayanan had been shifted to Mizoram for his remaining tenure, which ends in 2017. As an interim arrangement, Gujarat governor O.P. Kohli was asked to take over additional charge as Maharashtra governor. He was duly sworn in at the Mumbai Raj Bhavan on Sunday evening.
“I don’t want to continue as governor. It is not possible for me to go to Mizoram. There may be many reasons in the back pages. As governor, I have never played politics. I will honour the Constitution as it is a magna carta for the post,” Mr Sankaranarayanan said in a press conference in Mumbai on Sunday evening.
When asked about the replacement of governors that usually happens when a new government takes charge at the Centre, Mr Sankaranarayanan said that gubernatorial assignments were above politics. “They (governors) are appointed for five years and the term is extended if the President feels so. The prestige and status of governors should be upheld. No government or post is permanent... democracy is bigger than these things. I don’t have agony against anyone. I am happy,” he said.
“I am a free citizen from tomorrow. There will be no protocol. I am free.”
