Jharkhand governor likely to shift to Maharashtra

Jharkhand governor K Sankaranarayanan will, in all probability, be the new governor of Maharashtra.

He will replace incumbent SC Jamir. Former home minister Shivraj Patil has been identified for Punjab while another veteran Congress leader Urmilaben Patel is expected to take charge of Himachal Pradesh.

Former MPCC chief and current governor of Himachal Pradesh Prabha Rao is likely to be shifted to Rajasthan to fill up the vacancy caused by the death of the incumbent governor SK Singh, while AICC general secretary Mohsina Kidwai is likely to be made governor of Haryana.

Though a formal announcement on the complete list of governors is likely to be made on Saturday, the Congress core committee deliberated on the names on Friday evening at the prime minister’s residence.

In all, five new governors would be appointed along with a minor reshuffle among the existing governors, a highly placed ministry source said.
  
Although the home ministry was all geared up to complete official formalities to send the proposals to Rashtrapati Bhavan for presidential assent, it was put off till Saturday following a direction from the prime minister’s office late in the evening.

A senior government functionary said that it is almost certain that the national security advisor MK Narayanan will take charge as governor of West Bengal, while former RAW chief and Chattisgarh governor ESL Narashimhan, who holds additional charge of Andhra Pradesh, will be given full-fledged charge of Andhra Pradesh.

Meanwhile, the uncertainty about Narayanan’s successor continues. But the choice has been narrowed down to two former foreign secretaries, Shiv Shankar Menon and Shyam Saran. The available indications suggest that Menon is likely to make the cut.

The high-powered Congress core committee was also learnt to have discussed various names to give ample representation to the minority communities in the governor formation. Among the probable names were the former railway minister CK Jaffer Sharief, Jammu and Kashmir PCC chief and former Union minister Saifuddin Soz, and a comparatively lesser-known Kerala Congressman Farooq Maraikair

Sources privy to the deliberation of the core committee said that while Sharief’s name was under active consideration, Soz was reportedly reluctant to give up active politics. Presently Soz is locked in a running battle with health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad to dominate the state politics and has been extensively touring to galvanise the Congress rank and file.