Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi: Assam Governor Syed Sibtey Razi, who took office as recently as on July 27, has been asked by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to step down, a leading English daily reported on Tuesday.
Razi, who earlier served as the Governor of Jharkhand before moving to Assam, has been asked to go following CBI raids which confirmed allegations of corruption in the Jharkhand Raj Bhavan during Razi’s tenure.
“At a meeting on August 11, the PM asked Razi to relinquish office on health grounds but Razi insisted on time until October when his five-year term comes to an end. He also told the PM that he needed time to explain his position to party president Sonia Gandhi,” the newspaper quoted a senior official in the Prime Minister’s Office as saying.
Dr Singh is however reported to have told the former Jharkhand Governor at the meeting that he must step down first and then approach the party high command, the official stated further. Razi is also said to have spoken to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee the same day to explain his position.
According to the report, the Prime Minister tried to persuade Razi to quit on “moral” grounds as an official recall order would have meant further embarrassment for the UPA government, since it requires the President to issue a notification following recommendation from the Union Cabinet.
Sources said further that the Assam Governor has also sought a meeting with Home Minister P Chidambaram, which is likely to take place on Wednesday evening. But Razi’s efforts to seek time from Sonia Gandhi have not yielded any results so far, sources added.
Razi was shifted to Assam from Jharkhand on July 18 after then Intelligence Bureau’s Ranchi station-in-charge Janardan Singh confirmed a former MLA’s complaint to the PMO of alleged corruption involving the Governor and his staff.
The CBI had conducted raids on the houses of Razi’s former aides – Rajesh Thakur who was personal secretary since Razi took over as Governor in 2004 and IAS officer Avinash Kumar who joined as Officer on Special Duty after President’s Rule was imposed in Jharkhand in January this year – a week after new Governor K Sankaranarayanan was sworn in. The two are being probed for amassing disproportionate assets.
