Suspense continues to prevail over MP governor’s resignation

Suspense prevailed throughout Wednesday over the resignation of governor Ramnaresh Yadav following reports that the Centre had asked him to put in his papers after he was accused of being involved in the professional examination board (PEB) scam.

Suspense prevailed throughout Wednesday over the resignation of governor Ramnaresh Yadav following reports that the Centre had asked him to put in his papers after he was accused of being involved in the professional examination board (PEB) scam.

Reports suggested on Wednesday morning that Yadav had resigned after the Union home ministry conveyed to him that his position had become untenable, but sources said late in the evening that he was likely to quit only after meeting the President, Prime Minister and home minister in New Delhi, probably on Thursday.

While the public relations office at the Raj Bhavan maintained it was not aware of any development, state home minister Babulal Gaur claimed the governor had not resigned. “I met the governor today for a personal matter and he told me he has not resigned," Gaur told HT.

Senior officials, including the principal secretary to the governor, Vinod Semwal, could not be reached despite repeated attempts to contact them on phone.

Late in the afternoon, word went out that the governor had quit and his resignation had been accepted by the President. Sources even said Chhattisgarh governor Balramdas Tandon might be asked to given additional charge of Madhya Pradesh. However, the PRO of Chhattisgarh’s raj Bhavan, Harsha Pauranik, told HT there was no such information available with her.

By far, the governor’s is the biggest name in the scam that involved the rigging of several recruitment and entrance tests conducted by the state-government run PEB in 2012 and 2013. The series of scams emerged in July 2013 and more than 1,800 arrests have been made so far.