Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit resigns citing ‘personal’ reasons, had turbulent innings with Mann
Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit resigns citing ‘personal’ reasons, had turbulent innings with Mann
Chandigarh: Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit resigned from his position Saturday, citing “personal reasons”.
Purohit joined as the Punjab governor in August 2021 and his term was to end in August 2026.
The 83-year-old BJP leader from Nagpur, who was in Delhi on Friday, is said to have met Union Home Minister Amit Shah before tendering his resignation to the President Saturday morning. What transpired in the meeting is still not known.
In his role as the Punjab governor, Purohit was the ex officio administrator of Chandigarh. The governor’s resignation comes a day after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor and Delhi Chief Minister along with his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann protested in New Delhi against the BJP’s alleged rigging of the Chandigarh mayoral polls.
On 30 January, the BJP had won the much awaited mayoral elections after presiding officer Anil Masih invalidated eight votes of the AAP and the Congress who had put up a joint candidate. The AAP and the Congress alleged that Masih was an office bearer of the BJP.
AAP councillor Kuldeep Kumar, the joint AAP and Congress candidate for the mayor, challenged the BJP’s victory in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. After the HC asked the Chandigarh administration to file its reply in three weeks the AAP challenged the results in the Supreme Court. The case is likely to be heard Monday.
Purohit has had a turbulent equation with CM Bhagwant Mann for the past year. The relations between the two seemed to have somewhat thawed only recently when Mann went to attend the “at home” reception organised by the governor at the Raj Bhawan on Republic Day. Mann took to impromptu singing Punjabi songs during the occasion and later went up to hug the. Governor.
Barring this latest incident, there has been no love lost between the two. For the past one year, Purohit and Mann have been engaged in a bitter war of words over a multitude of issues.
Purohit has been writing to Mann seeking information about the working of his government and also forwarding complaints against his ministers for action. However, Mann instead chose on several occasions including in the Vidhan Sabha to attack the governor, terming him as an “agent” of the BJP in Punjab.
The governor had to on one occasion tell the chief minister that in case he did not give him the information that he was seeking, he would be forced to consider imposing President’s Rule in the state.
In the June session of the Vidhan Sabha last year, Mann had lashed out at the Governor who kept sending him “love letters”. “If I do not reply, then another letter is sent asking why I have not replied to the earlier letters,” said Mann.
In the same session, the Vidhan Sabha passed a bill curtailing the powers of the governor and making the CM ex officio chancellor of all state universities instead. The governor hit back at Mann, saying that his government was a “laughing stock”.
Later when Mann started complaining about the governor not signing some of the important bills passed by the assembly, the governor questioned the very legality of the June session of the assembly.
The animosity between the two flared up again in August after the governor wrote to the chief minister reminding him to reply to his queries firing off the President’s Rule warning to the chief minister.
The governor had also asked Mann to take action against his ministers who are facing allegations of sexual misconduct or who have been allegedly involved in other illegal activities.
Mann was also irked by the Punjab governor when he undertook visits to various districts directly meeting people and gathering their complaints. During the June session of the Vidhan Sabha, Mann attacked the governor saying that if he was so desirous of travelling across Punjab and meeting people, he should stand for elections.
The governor responded by saying that he will not use the Punjab government’s helicopter to travel anywhere in the state if the chief minister had a problem with that too.
(Edited by Tony Rai)