JAIPUR: Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh unwittingly created a political controversy when he, despite being the constitutional head of state, endorsed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the next five-year term at the Centre at a recent meeting in UP.
The former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister had been on a sojourn to Aligarh and while addressing a gathering said, “The next Prime Minister should be Narendra Modi only.”
It went viral on social media soon after.“We are all workers of the BJP and we would want that the party wins the polls. We also want that Narendra Modi becomes the PM again. This is important for the... country. We are workers of the party and respect all the decisions,” Kalyan said.
The March 23 statement filtered into Rajasthan and turned ready ammunition for the ruling Congress party with Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot reminding him of his Constitutional obligations.
“Personally, we have utmost respect for Shri Kalyan Singh ji, he is not only Governor of our state but is very senior leader too. I have learnt, he has made political statements that we all are BJP workers, supporting Shri Narendra Modi for his re-election as PM. The post of Governor is a constitutional post and in democracy, it is expected from Governors to be non partisan and maintain distance from party politics. It is really unfortunate that Sh. Singh has made such statements which do not suit the dignity of the post he is holding,” Gehlot said in a tweet.