Nehru Museum director presses resignation, accepted

Caught in the midst of a controversy, Mahesh Rangarajan, UPA-appointed director of Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML), has pressed ahead with his resignation from the post, which was accepted on Thursday.

“NMML director Rangarajan resigned from his post yesterday. It has been accepted by the Executive Council Chairman Lokesh Chandra. He had resigned two days back as <g data-gr-id="27">well</g> but the Council had not accepted it and had asked him to stay on,” said Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma.

He added: “But he resigned for the second time. The Council has accepted the resignation and informed the government that the post is vacant. We have to appoint a new director,” he said. 

Rangarajan’s resignation came more than a week after Sharma criticised his appointment, calling it as “illegal and unethical”, a charge he repeated even on <g data-gr-id="26">Thursdsay</g>.

It also came in the midst of the Congress party accusing the government of being engaged in “diabolical” actions to belittle the legacy of Nehru by going for a “complete revamp”. Sharma had raked up the appointment of Rangarajan by the outgoing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh just two days before the Lok Sabha election results were declared last year.

He had questioned the “haste” in the appointment.

The Union Minister, however, vehemently denied his ministry putting any pressure verbally or in writing on <g data-gr-id="30">Rangarjan</g> to resign but stuck to his stand that norms were “thrown to the winds” by the UPA government in permanent absorption of Rangarajan for the post.

“There has to be some limit to irregularities,” he said when asked why did he question Rangarajan’s appointment if the government did want him to go.