Punjab guv and Chandigarh administrator Banwarilal Purohit resigns

PTI, Feb 3, 2024, 5:47 PM IST

Banwarilal Purohit (Source: ANI / File)

Chandigarh: Punjab Governor and Chandigarh Administrator Banwarilal Purohit submitted his resignation to President Droupadi Murmu on Saturday, citing personal reasons.

”Due to my personal reasons and certain other commitments, I tender my resignation from the post of governor of Punjab and Administrator, Union Territory, Chandigarh. Please accept the same and oblige,” Purohit (84) wrote in his resignation letter. Purohit’s resignation came a day after he met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi.

Their meeting came days after the BJP swept the Chandigarh mayoral polls, retaining all three posts, a setback to the Congress-AAP alliance which alleged tampering with ballot papers by the presiding officer.

Before being appointed as the governor Punjab and administrator of Chandigarh, Purohit had also been the governor of Assam from 2016 to 2017 and the governor of Tamil Nadu from 2017 to 2021.

Purohit had also been a three-time Lok Sabha member from Nagpur in 1984, 1989 and 1996. He had also won the Assembly elections from Nagpur East in 1978 and from Nagpur South in 1980.

In his more than two-year eventful term as the governor, Purohit had been at loggerheads with Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann over several issues, including holding the Assembly sessions and appointments of vice-chancellors. They had not been on the best of terms as squabble between the Raj Bhavan and the AAP government surfaced over many issues.

Their relationship nose-dived when the governor thwarted the Mann-led regime’s plan to summon a special Assembly session in September 2022 to bring a confidence motion after he withdrew his order of summoning it. AAP had alleged that the BJP offered money to its 10 MLAs.

The row between the Raj Bhavan and the AAP government escalated when Purohit declined appointment of a cardiologist as vice chancellor of the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences and also sought removal of Punjab Agricultural University vice-chancellor.

AAP had accused the governor of interfering into the functioning of the Mann government at the behest of the BJP and dubbed the Raj Bhavan as the ”head office of the BJP.”

Purohit, during his tour to border villages in February last year, put the AAP government in the dock over drug and other issues. Purohit emphasised on setting up village-level defence committees to check drugs and arms smuggling from Pakistan.

A row erupted once again between the AAP government and the Raj Bhavan after Purohit questioned chief minister Mann on various issues, including the selection of school principals for a foreign trip, with Mann saying his government is only answerable to Punjabis and not a Centre-appointed governor.

While the governor claimed that Mann ”never cared to reply” to his official letters, the chief minister while calling them ”love letters” had said his government is ”accountable only to three crore Punjabis”.

Only those who were elected by the people of Punjab should take decisions regarding the state matters, not ”selected” ones, Mann had said in an apparent jibe at Purohit.

The squabble between the AAP government and the Raj Bhavan further escalated after the former accused Purohit of not responding to the Cabinet’s decision of convening the budget session and knocked the doors of the Supreme Court.

The governor had said that he would take a call on summoning the budget session only after taking legal advice on the chief minister’s ”derogatory” response to the issues raised by him.

The budget session, however, was finally held in March after the matter reached the top court.

The tussle between the AAP government and the Raj Bhavan continued after the latter called the June 19-20 session, which was the extension of the March budget session, as ”patently illegal”.

In August last year, Purohit said he could recommend the President’s rule in the state and also initiate criminal proceedings if his letters were not answered.

The Supreme Court, in its November 10 judgment, directed the Punjab governor to decide on the Bills passed by the legislative assembly during its ”constitutionally valid” session held on June 19 and 20, besides questioning the state government for repeatedly adjourning the Budget session sine die instead of proroguing it.

Later, the governor reserved three Bills — Sikh Gurdwaras (Amendment) Bill, 2023, the Punjab Universities Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2023 and the Punjab Police (Amendment) Bill, 2023 — for the consideration of the President. However, Purohit praised Mann for his impromptu singing performance during the ‘At Home’ function organised at the Punjab Raj Bhavan on the occasion of the Republic Day celebrations and told him, ”Kamaal kar diya apne.”