CHANDIGARH: Punjab Governor and Chandigarh Union Territory Administrator Banwarilal Purohit submitted his resignation to President Droupadi Murmu on Saturday, citing personal reasons.
“Due to my personal reasons and certain other commitments, I tender my resignation from the post of Governor of Punjab and Administrator, Union Territory, Chandigarh. Please accept the same and oblige,” Purohit said in his resignation letter.
Purohit, 84, resigned a day after he met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi, a few days after the BJP won the Chandigarh mayoral polls, retaining all three posts. The victory of BJP came as a setback to the Congress-AAP alliance and the election was mired in controversy as the opposition parties alleged tampering with ballot papers by the presiding officer and approached the Punjab and High Court.
In his earlier gubernatorial stints, Purohit had also been the Governor of Assam from 2016 to 2017 and the Governor of Tamil Nadu from 2017 to 2021.
Purohit had also been a three-time Lok Sabha member from Nagpur in 1984, 1989 and 1996. He had also won the Assembly elections from Nagpur East in 1978 and from Nagpur South in 1980.
During his little more than two-year term as the Governor, Purohit and Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann have had unsavoury friction and squabbles over several issues, including holding the Assembly sessions and appointments of vice-chancellors.
Purohit, during his tour to border villages in February last year, put the AAP government in the dock over drug and other issues. Purohit emphasised on setting up village-level defence committees to check drugs and arms smuggling from Pakistan.