The Hindu : New Delhi News : Second gubernatorial `gift' for Rajasthan

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jul 06, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Second gubernatorial `gift' for Rajasthan

By Our Special Correspondent

JAIPUR, JULY 5. The appointment of Nawal Kishore Sharma, veteran Congress leader and former Union Minister, as Gujarat Governor has enthused party workers and the public at large. Though Mr.Sharma's name too was doing rounds in the past, the announcement today came as a pleasant surprise to many, including Mr.Sharma himself. "I had an inkling that something was happening but I heard about the announcement from you people (journalists),'' Mr.Sharma, who was in the Sawai Man Singh Hospital, beside his ailing wife, Munni Devi, when the good tidings reached him, said. "My wife is seriously ill. I have to be with her. These things are part of life. I will intimate the authorities on my assuming charge once the official order reaches me,'' he said.

Asked about the challenges ahead for the Governor of a politically- sensitive State like Gujarat, Mr.Sharma said: "My job as Governor would be to act as per the Constitution. My job is not to create problems for anyone.''

When asked specifically about dealing with a controversial Chief Minister like Narendra Modi, Mr.Sharma quipped: "What about Narendra Modi ? He is the Chief Minister, that is it''. This is second of the gubernatorial "tohfa''(gift) for Rajasthan from the new ruling dispensation at the Centre even when the Congress had fared poorly in the recent Lok Sabha polls after an equally dismal performance in the Assembly elections in November last. Mr.Sharma, who was a member in the previous Assembly did not contest elections this time but had handed over the mantle to his son, Braj Kishore Sharma. The senior Sharma has represented Dausa and Jaipur Lok Sabha constituencies in the past. The first Rajasthani to be given the assignment during the current season was B.L.Joshi, who has been made the Lt.Governor of Delhi. Mr.Joshi, a retired Indian Police Service official, hails from Nagaur district though his family is now settled in Jaipur.

Looking at the appointments in a political perspective, the effort seemingly is to please the Brahmin population in the State, which was smarting under the removal of their kinswoman--Girija Vyas--as the Pradesh Congress Committee president a few months back. In the case of Mr.Sharma, who has been the general secretary of the All India Congress Committee in the past, it is also part of the party's effort to settle old guards and make way for a new team in the State.

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