Qureshi, who was appointed by the UPA government was told to quit after change in Government. (Source: PTI) Qureshi, who was appointed by the UPA government was told to quit after change in Government. (Source: PTI)

Mizoram governor Aziz Qureshi, who dragged the Centre to Supreme Court over attempts to remove him earlier as Uttarakhand governor, was sacked Saturday — six governors have exited the state since the Modi government took charge last May.

Qureshi, whose Raj Bhavan tenure was until May 2017, is the second governor after Kamla Beniwal to be sacked after being moved to Mizoram.

No reason was given for his removal. A Rashtrapati Bhavan communiqué stated: “The President has directed that Dr Aziz Qureshi shall cease to hold the office of the Governor of Mizoram and has appointed Shri Keshari Nath Tripathi, Governor of West Bengal, to discharge the functions of the Governor of Mizoram, in addition to his own duties, until regular arrangements for the office of the Governor of Mizoram are made.”

Tripathi is already holding additional charge of Bihar and Meghalaya.

Qureshi was in Delhi when he was sacked. When contacted, he declined comment.

He had taken over as Mizoram governor on January 9 after being transferred from Uttarakhand. After he took charge, Qureshi said he did not consider the state “a dumping ground”, that he would not resign, like some others before him, and would remain on the post until 2017.

Among the governors appointed by the UPA government, he was told by the home secretary to step down as Uttarakhand governor last year. He approached the Supreme Court against the move to force him out.

The exits from the Mizoram Raj Bhavan began last July when Vakkom B Purushothaman, who was transferred to Nagaland by the Modi government, quit saying he had not been consulted.

This was followed by transfer of 87-year-old Kamla Beniwal from Gujarat to Mizoram. But she was sacked a month later for alleged impropriety, a charge she denied. While in Gujarat, Beniwal had a running battle with Modi while he was chief minister.

Maharashtra Governor K Sankaranarayanan was asked to move to Mizoram. But he refused to take charge and quit soon after his transfer order was issued last August.

Former home secretary V K Duggal, who was the then governor of Manipur, was given additional charge of Mizoram. His tenure too was short-lived as he too quit. Meghalaya governor K K Paul held additional charge of Mizoram until he was transferred to Uttarakhand as Qureshi’s replacement.

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