New Delhi: A complaint about alleged misconduct on the part of a governor of a southern state has been received by the home ministry and is being investigated for its veracity.

The complaint is about the governor allegedly seeking sexual favours from women staff at the Raj Bhavan and the matter is being probed, sources said. The ministry has not yet commented on the identity of the governor concerned.

Sources said the Centre › has taken a serious view of the allegations and has directed agencies to examine if there’s any evidence. If the complaint is found to have some basis, the governor will be asked to resign immediately.

Governor has not been summoned by Centre yet

It may be recalled that in January last year, V. Shanmuganathan, Governor of Meghalaya was asked to resign after complaints of a similar nature had been received against him. More than 100 Raj Bhavan employees had petitioned the then President Pranab Mukherjee demanding the Governor’s recall, while accusing him of lowering the dignity of the gubernatorial office. The allegation was, that the Governor had sought to convert the Raj Bhavan into a young ladies’ club.

Way back in December 2009, senior Congress leader and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Narayan Dutt Tiwari had to resign as the Governor of Andhra Pradesh following serious charges of sexual perversion against him. The seasoned politician initially was reluctant to put in his papers, but did so after President Pratibha Patil declined to visit Hyderabad for her annual sojourn while he was holding office. Photographs showing Tiwari in the company of some women had also circulated at that time.

Prior to this, during Indira Gandhi’s tenure as the Prime Minister, the Governor of a major state in North India was accused of turning the Raj Bhavan into his personal harem. Given his political clout, no action was taken against him and the frolicking continued. It, however, remains to be seen whether the Governor of the South Indian state, who has been accused of sexual misconduct, will be found guilty following the investigation by intelligence agencies. If so, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to follow a “zero tolerance” policy against such doings.

https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/#