If you thought Vajubhai Vala's invitation to BSY was a one-off, think again :))
Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala -- Narendra D Modi's two-term finance minister when NaMo was Gujarat chief minister -- is not the only Bharatiya Janata Party leader-appointed-governor who has plunged into the murky waters of controversy.
Syed Firdaus Ashraf surveys the Raj Bhavans landscape.
Keshari Nath Tripathi, West Bengal
Previously president of the BJP's Uttar Pradesh unit, thrice speaker of the UP assembly before taking charge of the Raj Bhavan in Kolkata.
Controversy: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused Tripathi of speaking to her rudely after communal unrest erupted in the state.
Jagdish Mukhi, Assam
Former Delhi minister, he earlier served as lieutenant governor of the Andaman and Nicobar islands.
Controversy: Mukhi was sworn in as Assam's governor in a lavish ceremony. 200 guests arrived from Haryana, drawing flak.
Anandiben Patel, Madhya Pradesh
Dethroned as Gujarat CM because the Modi-Shah combine felt the BJP would be hurt by her non performance in Gandhinagar, the PM located a sinecure for his old associate in Bhopal's Raj Bhavan.
Controversy: A video recently appeared on social media where Anandiben is purportedly shown to be 'advising' BJP workers 'how to get votes' in the coming assembly election.
Banwarilal Purohit, Tamil Nadu
The media baron from Nagpur was twice elected to the Lok Sabha (1984 and 1989) on a Congress ticket, but joined the BJP in 1991, apparently enamoured by the Ram Janambhoomi movement.
Elected to the Lok Sabha in 1996, he quit the BJP three years later, rejoined the Congress, left the Congress, rejoined the BJP...
After losing every Lok Sabha election since 1998, he was appointed Tamil Nadu governor last September and is seen to be Modi-Shah's ears and eyes in the state.
Controversy: Purohit patted a lady journalist's cheek at a press conference and was promptly condemned for what the gov described as a grandfather-like gesture. He later tendered an 'unconditional apology'.
Mridula Sinha, Goa
Leader of the BJP Mahila Morcha during the 2014 Lok Sabha election campaign, the poet and writer was appointed Goa's governor in August 2014.
Controversy: The Congress was the largest party in Goa after last year's assembly election. It was 4 seats short of the halfway mark in the 40-member House.
Governor Sinha did not invite the Congress to form a government. Instead, she called the BJP which had 14 MLAs. In its defence, the BJP said the Congress did not approach the governor to stake its claim to form a government so it did so.
Ch Vidyasagar Rao, Maharashtra
A minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee's government, twice BJP MP from Karimnagar, Rao was appointed Maharashtra's governor in August 2014.
Controversy: When he held additional charge as Tamil Nadu's governor, Rao refused to call V K Sasikala to form a government after J Jayalalithaa's death. He preferred the more BJP-friendly Edappadi K Palaniswami.
Padmanabha Acharya, Nagaland
Long-time BJP activist in the north east before he was appointed Nagaland governor.
Controversy: When holding additional charge as Assam's governor he declared that 'Hindustan is only for Hindus'. Acharya later claimed he had been misquoted.
Balram Das Tandon, Chhattisgarh
BJP leader from Punjab before occupying Raipur's Raj Bhavan.
Controversy: The state Congress accused Tandon of siding with Dr Raman Singh's BJP government. Congress leaders said the governor must stay neutral. In an interview, Tandon quipped: 'It's the job of the Opposition to oppose'.
Tathagata Roy, Tripura
BJP leader from West Bengal before being appointed Tripura's governor.
Controversy: Too many to mention here. On his Twitter handle (which does not have a blue tick), he calls himself 'Right-Wing Hindu socio-political thinker, writer ideologue'.
Ganga Prasad, Meghalaya
Bihar politician before being assigned to Shillong's Raj Bhavan.
Controversy: Like Mridula Sinha in Panaji, Prasad did not invite the Congress to form a government in spite of it being the largest party after this year's assembly election.
Instead, Prasad called Conrad Sangma's National People's Party to form the government with the BJP's help. The BJP, by the way, had won just 2 seats.
Najma Heptulla, Manipur
The former Congress MP turned BJP leader, she was assigned to distant Imphal after she resigned as a Modi minister when she turned 75.
Controversy: After last year's assembly election, she ignored the Congress claim to form a government and said the party did not have the numbers though it had won 28 out of Manipur's 60 assembly seats.
Heptullah preferred the BJP which had won 21 seats. The BJP later secured a majority -- 31 seats -- with the support of other parties.
