Buta Singh may be new Bihar governor

Former Union minister and senior Congress leader Buta Singh is likely to be appointed the governor of Bihar, according to sources.

Andhra Pradesh Governor Surjit Singh Barnala is likely to be shifted to Tamil Nadu where incumbent PS Rammohan Rao has resigned.

Buta Singh would replace Rama Jois who quit as Bihar governor as the Centre stepped up its efforts to remove all those who were given gubernatorial posts during the NDA rule.

Pressure is also mounting on Punjab Governor OP Verma to make way, and he is in Delhi apparently to meet President APJ Abdul Kalam and hand over his resignation.

As the Jayalalithaa government was fighting its battle in the Supreme Court, Tamil Nadu Governor PS Ramamohan Rao resigned from his post today, saying he would not like to go to the Northeast which the Centre had reportedly offered him.

Rao, a retired police official of Andhra Pradesh, has faxed his resignation to President Kalam, a day after another NDA appointee Rama Jois quit as Bihar governor.

Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court had declined to pass any interim order on the Tamil Nadu government's plea seeking to restrain the Centre and the President from transferring Rao.

Rao had been a target of attack from the DMK and other constituents of the UPA, and his resignation is most likely to pave the way for the transfer of Surjeet Singh Barnala from Andhra Pradesh to Tamil Nadu.

The Tamil Nadu government, in its application in the Supreme Court, had cited a conversation between the chief minister of the state and the Union home minister in which Shivraj Patil was said to have told Jayalalithaa that Barnala had agreed to be shifted to the Chennai Raj Bhawan.

Later, in a statement, Ramamohan Rao said he had decided to resign from his post as his request for a transfer to any other state other than the north-eastern states, had not been accepted.

"Two weeks ago, I was informed that it was decided to shift me from Tamil Nadu to a northeastern state. I explained that it would not be convenient for me to go to the Northeast for family reasons and I will be happy to go home if it will not be possible for the government to give me some other state. It has since been conveyed to me that the government has not found it possible to accommodate me in any other state, hence the resignation," he said.

Rao, a retired director general of police, took over the gubernatorial assignment on January 18, 2002.

He is the third governor, appointed by the previous NDA government, to quit the post this week, after Madan Lal Khurana and Rama Jois.