NEW DELHI: Andhra Pradesh governor N D Tiwari quit on Saturday late afternoon, a little over a day after allegations about his involvement in a sex romp in Raj Bhawan surfaced.

Congress sources say that Chhattisgarh governor ESL Narsimhan may get additional charge of Andhra Pradesh.

It is understood that Tiwari's fate was sealed by none other than President Pratibha Patil. The President, who is to arrive in Hyderabad on her annual southern sojourn on Sunday morning, had indicated that it would be untenable for her to come to the city with such allegations being made publicly. Patil would have been received by Tiwari at the airport.

Tiwari took the cue and with continued agitations outside Raj Bhavan by vociferous women activists realised that his position was untenable.

Indications from the Congress high command were also not very favourable for him. An emergency meeting was held earlier in the day over the ‘sex tape ’ issue.

Though Tiwari men had been aggressive on Friday morning soon after the tapes were telecast, by evening, their position had tempered down. This might have been with the realisation that the governor was absolutely defenceless with foolproof tapes available with the ABN Andhra Jyothi, the channel that telecast the episode. Also Tiwari and his aides realised that he had been done in by elements deep within his camp.

Times Now reported that the 86-year-old leader has cited ‘health reasons’ for quitting.

He had also lately been overcome with fading memory and other indications of senility.

The Congress party welcomed Tiwari’s resignation. "I think he has taken an appropriate decision keeping in view the high standards of public life. We welcome it," AICC media department chief Janardan Dwivedi told reporters in Delhi.

Earlier in the day, the Central government had asked for a report from the state government and knowledgeable sources had already stated that he could be asked to quit the post following severe embarrassment to the Congress party.

After the sting operation was telecast yesterday by the ABN Andhra Jyothi channel, the Raj Bhavan approached the Andhra Pradesh High Court and got a restraint order on the channel from telecasting the footage.

However, the channel's Editor-in-Chief Vemuri Radhakrishna said that they have evidence to back what they have shown. "Let them serve defamation notice. We are even ready to deal with the issue".

Sources in the Government had said the Andhra Pradesh Chief Secretary has been asked to give a report on the issue and it will take a view once it is received.

Congress sources had said that the party is concerned over the issue as it has embarrassed it. They said the embarrassment was more acute because of Tiwari's long association with the party and he may have to go.

This is not the first time that Tiwari, a former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand and a former Union Minister, has figured in controversies involving women.

Sometime ago, a lawyer Rohit Shekhar had filed a paternity suit in Delhi High Court against Tiwari claiming that he was born out of intimate relationship between the Congress leader and his mother Ujwala Sharma. The charge was, however, denied by the Governor.

The Delhi High Court, however, had rejected the petition on the ground that Shekhar filed it a long time after becoming a major and was time-barred.