Gujarat Governor Kamla Beniwal shifted to Mizoram

Gujarat Governor Kamla Beniwal, who had frosty relations with Narendra Modi when he was chief minister of the state, was tonight sent off to Mizoram in a reshuffle of governors effected by the government.

87-year-old Beniwal, whose tenure ends in November and who had a running battle with the Modi government over the appointment of Lokayukta and some legislations, will take over from Vakkom Purushothaman.

Rajasthan Governor Margaret Alva, who will demit office exactly in a month, will shift to Ahmedabad to take additional charge.

During her confrontation with Modi, Beniwal appointed retired Justice R A Mehta as Lokayukta in Gujarat against which the state went in appeal to the high court and later the Supreme Court which upheld it last year.  However, it was another story that Justice Mehta did not take up the post and Modi's government named a new nominee.

Beniwal also sat over legislations passed by the state assembly one of which provided for 50 per cent reservation for women in local bodies.

Announcing these changes, a Rashtrapati Bhawan communiqué said Governor of Gujarat is transferred and appointed as Governor of Mizoram for the remainder of her term vice Vakkom Purushothaman.

Purushothaman is transferred and appointed as Governor of Nagaland for the remainder of his term, it said adding that he would also hold additional charge of the office of Governor of Tripura.

Alva, the Governor of Rajasthan would discharge the functions of Governor of Gujarat, in addition to her own duties, until regular arrangements for the office of the Governor of Gujarat are made.

Earlier there was speculation that new Governors would be appointed before the budget session of Parliament starting Monday in place of those who had quit. Many of them were asked by the new government to put in their papers.

Those who resigned after the government's signals are B L Joshi (Uttar Pradesh), M K Narayanan (West Bengal), Shekhar Dutt (Chhattisgarh), Ashwani Kumar (Nagaland) and B V Wanchoo (Goa).

Wanchoo's resignation on July 4, the day he was questioned by CBI as a witness in the AgustaWestland helicopter purchase scam. A few days earlier former National Security Advisor M K Narayanan also quit as West Bengal Governor after similar questioning by the CBI.

Two Governors -- H R Bharadwaj (Karnataka) and Devanand Konwar (Tripura) were allowed to stay in the post till their tenure ended last month.

However, a few other Governors appointed by the previous UPA regime continue to remain in office. They include K Sankaranarayanan (Maharashtra), Sheila Dikshit (Kerala), Jaganath Pahadia (Haryana), Shivraj V Patil (Punjab) besides others.  Sankaranayanan was among those asked to quit.