Tamil Nadu governor resigns

Barely hours after the Supreme Court declined to pass an interim order on the Tamil Nadu government's plea seeking to restrain the President and the Union government from transferring Governor P S Ramamohan Rao, the governor on Friday sent in his resignation to President A P J Abdul Kalam.

Rao faxed his resignation to the President with a request that it be considered effective from November 2, Raj Bhavan sources said.

Rao, a former director general of police, is the third governor to quit this week after Madan Lal Khurana of Rajasthan and Rama Jois of Bihar.

Later, in a statement, Rao said he decided to resign after his request for a transfer to any state other than the north-eastern states was not accepted.

"Two weeks ago, I was informed that it was decided to shift me from Tamil Nadu to a north-eastern state. I explained that it would not be convenient for me to go to north-east for family reasons and I will be happy to go home if it would not be possible for the government to give me some other state.

"It has since been conveyed to me that the government has not found it possible to accommodate me in any other state,
hence the resignation," he said.

The ruling United Progressive Alliance constituents from Tamil Nadu, especially the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Pattali Makkal Katchi, had demanded Rao's transfer.
 
The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government in Chennai, however, backed him to the hilt and even moved the Supreme Court with a petition against the transfer.

The state, through its counsel K K Venugopal, argued that the transfer or removal of a governor could only be done with the consent or concurrence of the council of ministers headed by the chief minister of the concerned state.

Giving details of a conversation between Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil over the phone on Thursday, the application said that when the chief minister sought to know whether the phone call was to consult her or to inform her, the home minister said: "I am informing you."

When she wondered as to how the Centre could take such a decision without consulting her, Patil, the application said, replied: "The Sarkaria Commission has made this recommendation, but this is the way we usually do these things."