New Delhi: Mizoram governor Kummanam Rajasekharan resigned from his post on Friday. President Ram Nath Kovind has accepted his resignation and given additional charge of the northeastern state to Assam governor Jagdish Mukhi. The arrangement is to continue “until regular arrangements are made”.
Rajasekharan, the BJP Kerala unit chief since 2015, was sworn in as Mizoram governor in May 2018. His appointment to the gubernatorial post created a furore in the Christian majority state because of his active involvement with the BJP’s ideological fount, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
People’s Representation for Identity and Status of Mizoram (PRISM), an anti-corruption forum-turned-political outfit, had led a campaign in the state demanding his removal.
In a statement issued jointly by its president Vanlalruata and general secretary Lalrinzuala Chawngthu, PRISM had said:
“He is well-known for his anti-secularism that goes against Indian Constitution. He has been a hardcore member of RSS, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Hindu Aikya Vedi; well-known as being against Christian missionaries and Christians in general. He was the general convener of Nilakkal Action Council and was directly instrumental in the Nilakkal Hindu-Christian conflict of 1983.”
Speculation is rife that Rajasekharan has resigned from his post to contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from his home state Kerala. According to a news report on March 6, the party’s state unit has asked the national leadership to recall Rajasekharan and choose him as the candidate in the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha seat against Congress’ two-time sitting MP Shashi Tharoor.
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“We have informed the party leadership about our decision. Besides the district unit, about 80% of the state leaders want him to contest. He is the ideal candidate to take on the might of Tharoor,” a senior party leader told the Hindustan Times.
For a sitting governor to resign from his post to contest a Lok Sabha elections is a rare occurrence. In 2014, Kerala governor Nikhil Kumar quit to contest from Aurangabad in Bihar from a Congress ticket. Kumar, who served as the chief of the National Security Guards and the Indo Tibetan Border Police besides being the former police commissioner of Delhi, was defeated by Sushil Kumar Singh of the BJP.
Assam Congress leader Hiteswar Saikia, who also served as Mizoram governor from December 1986 to February 1987, contested the assembly elections in his home state and went on to become its chief minister for the second term.