Congress: Abolish governor's post or...

Mon, 02 September 2024

13:36

PM with TN governor RN Ravi

Amid growing instances of run-ins between governors and opposition-ruled state governments, senior Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi on Monday said the governor's post should either be abolished or a person of stature who is not into petty politics be appointed by consensus.

Singhvi, who was elected to the Rajya Sabha unopposed from Telangana last week, also weighed in on the repeated standoffs between the Chair and the opposition in both Houses of Parliament and called for reforms to ensure the Chair is not partisan.

In an interview with PTI, the four-time MP said a very big failing of this government is that it "demeaned, devalued and diminished" every institution and there were several instances of governors acting as a second chief executive or a "second sword in the same scabbard".

"Either the governor's post be abolished or by consensus a person of stature who is not into petty politics be appointed," Singhvi asserted.

"Will a person like Gopalkrishna Gandhi do such a thing? I am taking his name, though he was nominated by our party for the vice president's post, but such people who do not cross the limit and do wrong, (either appoint them) or abolish the governor's post," the Congress Working Committee member said.

"If the governor becomes a challenge or threat for the chief minister then the governor has to go because elections are held for a CM not a governor," Singhvi said. "What is happening today is that the governor says I will not pass the bill 8-10 times and ultimately when I go to the court and make sure you have to pass the bill, you refer it to the president. Governance is suffering, actual decisions can't be taken, governor is acting like another chief executive as a second sword in the same scabbard," the eminent jurist said.

"The principle that Ambedkar created for governors and CMs of not having two swords in one scabbard, the government is violating that "shamelessly", Singhvi added.

Singhvi's remarks come amid repeated standoffs between governors and opposition-ruled state governments such as in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Karnataka. The senior advocate, however clarified, he was not commenting on Karnataka, where the governor has approved prosecution against CM Siddaramaiah in a case, as the matter is sub-judice and was talking in general about the role of the governor.

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