Appointment of new governors likely before Parliament session

Some BJP veterans are likely to be appointed as governors once some of the incumbents chosen by the previous UPA government make their exit. While governors of Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh have already quit, sources said that many others have been sounded out.

"A list is being prepared by the ruling party. Once it is finalised, the governors will be asked to put in their papers," a source said. Asked when the new appointments are likely to be made, the source said, "Likely to be before the Parliament session." Replying to another query on total numbers of governors who will be changed, the source said, "Over 10 easily." Interestingly, Goa Governor BV Wanchoo, whom the state BJP has been targeting, today met Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

After the meeting, he avoided journalists. Haryana Governor Jagannath Pahadia also met Singh. Meanwhile, BJP veteran Lalji Tandon, who is said to be one of the probables for governorship, also met the Home Minister. Two governors—Ashwini Kumar of Nagaland and MK Narayanan of West Bengal— are believed to have conveyed to the Centre their willingness to step down from their posts following the NDA government's pressure on some of them to quit.

63-year-old Kumar, a retired IPS officer who had served as director of CBI, is said to have conveyed to the home ministry his desire to quit as soon as formally asked, sources said. Narayanan is learnt to have sought some time to take a decision on his resignation and conveyed to the government that no pressure should be brought on him during this period. Narayanan, too, is a former IPS officer who had served as director of Intelligence Bureau during Rajiv Gandhi days and was the National Security Advisor during UPA.