Mizoram Governor-designate Aziz Qureshi to assume charge after ‘two-week break’

The state has gotten caught in an apparent quit-or-be-shunned row between Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government and several Governors appointed by the earlier UPA government.

The first message to Raj Bhavan after Qureshi’s transfer came on New Year’s Eve afternoon.

Officials say it has given them hope that Qureshi might buck the trend of some past Governors quitting almost immediately after they were transferred to Mizoram or, in the case of Kamla, fired soon after taking charge.

The saga began in early July when then Governor Vakkom B Purushothaman quit in protest after he was transferred to Nagaland saying he had not been consulted and “Governors cannot be treated like clerks”.

Former Gujarat Governor Kamla Beniwal was then transferred to Mizoram but she was fired by Rashtrapati  Bhavan within a month on corruption charges and allegations that she spent just a day in Mizoram, the latter being untrue.

Former Maharashtra Governor K Sankaranarayanan was then appointed Governor of Mizoram, but he refused to take charge and quit soon after his transfer on August 24.

V K Duggal, who was then Manipur Governor, took additional charge of Mizoram. But he too quit in September.

K K Paul, then Governor of Meghalaya, was then goiven additional charge of both Mizoram and Manipur until his transfer orders were issued on Tuesday along with Qureshi’s.

The quick succession of appointments and rejections had caused outrage in Mizoram, with politicians as well as civil-society members and student unions condemning the state being used as a “dumping ground”.