HYDERABAD/NEW DELHI: Still confronted with the Telangana statehood issue and political challenges to its government in the state, the UPA government has decided to retain the man who has been its eyes and ears -- ESL Narasimham -- as governor.
Along with appointment of governors to other states, the Centre gave a second term in Raj Bhavan to Narasimhan, a former intelligence official.
Narasimhan, who moved from Chhattisgarh to Andhra Pradesh in December 2009 at the height of the Telangana agitation, has been quite active in Raj Bhavan, so much so that the Centre often looked to him for inputs either on the statehood issue or political developments in the state.
His role has also assumed greater importance considering that the Congress did not have a strong chief minister since the death of Y S Rajasekhara Reddy with both Rosaiah and Kiran Kumar Reddy facing threats from within. Not one to lose an opportunity to meet a cross-section, Narasimhan has always kept himself abreast of developments at the political level, and thus provided Delhi an alternative source of information in case it is needed.
Narasimhan was first appointed as governor of Chhattisgarh and was initially given additional charge of AP after N D Tiwari resigned in the wake of a sex scandal in December 2009. In January the following year, Narasimhan took over as full-fledged governor of AP. Technicaly, his tenure came to an end in January. Narasimhan will now have a second five-year gubernatorial stint.
Meanwhile, former SPG chief B V Wanchoo was on Saturday named as the new governor of Goa while K Sankaranarayanan will have a fresh term in the Raj Bhavan in Maharashtra.
Former Madhya Pradesh minister and ex-MP Aziz Qureshi was appointed as the next governor of Uttarakhand, replacing Margaret Alva who will move to Rajasthan as governor for the
remainder of her term, Rashtrapati Bhavan announced.
The appointments were cleared in the Congress Core Group meeting on Friday presided over by party president Sonia Gandhi with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh by her side. With Agency inputs.