This Article is From Aug 28, 2014

VK Duggal Resigns as Manipur Governor, the Ninth Since NDA Came to Power

VK Duggal Resigns as Manipur Governor, the Ninth Since NDA Came to Power

VK Duggal (L) after being sworn in as Governor of Manipur on December 31, 2013 (PTI photo)

New Delhi: Vinod Kumar Duggal today resigned as the Governor of Manipur, becoming the ninth governor appointed by the UPA regime to quit since the Narendra Modi government came to power in May this year. (Opinion: Slow-Motion Assassinations of Governors)

Mr Duggal, who holds additional charge of Mizoram as well, met with President Pranab Mukherjee today and handed over his resignation.

"I have submitted my resignation to the President," Mr Duggal, a former Union Home Secretary, told PTI.

Asked whether he was asked to quit, the 69-year-old, who became the Governor of the Northeastern state on December 31 last, said, "I have resigned on my own accord."

Mr Duggal, who served as Home Secretary from 2005 to 2007, is the second Governor to have put in his papers this week.

Earlier, Sheila Dikshit had resigned as Governor of Kerala on Tuesday. (Read)

Five UPA-appointed Governors - MK Narayanan (West Bengal), Ashwani Kumar (Nagaland), BL Joshi (Uttar Pradesh), BV Wanchoo (Goa) and Shekhar Dutt (Chhattisgarh) - have already resigned after being nudged by the NDA government led by Mr Modi.

V Purushothaman, the Governor of Mizoram, had resigned after he was transferred to Nagaland in July this year while Maharashtra Governor K Sankaranarayanan tendered his resignation on August 24 after he was shifted to Mizoram.

After the new Government assumed office, two Governors including 87-year-old Kamla Beniwal, who as Governor of Gujarat had shared a fractious relationship with Mr Modi when he was the state's Chief Minister, were sacked. (Kamla Beniwal Sacked As Governor, Government Cites 'Serious Allegations')

Lt Governor of Puducherry Virendra Kataria, a former Congress leader, was also sacked. (Removed as Puducherry's Lieutenant Governor as I 'Exposed' Graft: Virendra Kataria)

Meanwhile, Aziz Qureshi, the Governor of Uttarakhand has taken the Centre to the Supreme Court, alleging that only the President of the country can demand his removal. (Read)
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