In India, Governors are for the sake of name only as the real powers lies with the Chief Ministers. Normally, the resignation of Governors, appointed by the previous government ruled by the particular political party, is asked by the ruling party. The Modi government, which is yet to settle in the formation of its ministries, is doing what the UPA government did when it came to power in 2004. The UPA sacked the governors, who were appointed during the tenure of Atul Behari Vajpayee.

It may be recalled that Uttar Pradesh Governor B L Joshi and Chhattisgarh Governor Shekhar Dutt put in their papers last week and Nagaland Governor Ashwani Kumar is the third to resign. In fact, with the exit poll predictions, the fate of Congress appointed Governors was in exit mode. The rest of 18 Congress appointed Governors especially the party old timers are said to be waiting for the party leadership’s directive in this regard.
The Governors are appointed for a period of five years to adjust those who have lost in the elections or to those bureaucrats who had been too loyal to the party to do anything, even out of the frame of law. Most of the appointed Governors do whatever is expected from them and they do according to that. However, some of them do with personal vested interests because as a Governor, they cannot be preceded legally. There could be number of such incidents – like capturing in video with three girls, scams etc. It applies not only on the Governors but also on the bureaucrats.

Similarly, the Modi government wants all the UPA appointed governors to be quit their posts, according to the reports. By the clear indication on this by the Union home ministry, Uttar Pradesh’s BL Joshi, West Bengal’s MK Narayanan, Karnataka’s HR Bhardwaj and Assam’s JB Patnaik have already resigned, and three more governors are reportedly waiting for an appointment to do same after meeting with the President Pranab Mukherjee.
There was news in the media that Union Home Secretary Anil Goswami called up the seven governors appointed by the Manmohan Singh government and asked them to resign.
The governors who were sent to pursue them are MK Narayanan of Bengal, Sheila Dikshit in Kerala, Margaret Alva in Rajasthan, Kamla Beniwal in Gujarat, BL Joshi in UP, K Sankaranarayanan in Maharashtra and Devendra Konwar in Tripura.
However, Congress senior leader and the present Kerala governor Sheila Dikshit, who refused to resign may shifted to the smaller state by the Union Government.
Meanwhile, it come to known that some of the governors are in a thought to challenge the Centre move in the courts.

It is a matter of record that a President cannot remove the Governor without giving any cogent reason, a Bench in 2010 opined that the Governor cannot be removed by using the dictatorial and un-ceremonial manner. However, it can be used in rare of the rarest cases in certain important and peculiar circumstances. He cannot be removed simply on the plea that he is not in tune with the Centre and State governments with the policies and ideology of ruling party. Not even, that the Centre Government doesn’t have faith in him.
Whereas the Congress leaders are the view that the Governors cannot be compelled to quit as there is no legal binding on them to resign without the completion of their tenure. “Article 156 of the Constitution clearly says that the Governor shall hold office at the pleasure of the President. It is a personal choice. The post of the Governor is a constitutional one and there is no law which compels them to quit without completing their tenure.

Frankly speaking, it is but natural that any political party in power, would like to adjust its own loyalists, who have given too much to the party. However, in such circumstances, the government cannot move against the court directions in this regard as the position is vice-verse.

Despite, I being a non-believer in God, can only say – God knows the end from the beginning.