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 today.
"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 well but the Council had not accepted it and had asked him to stay on.
"But he resigned for the second time. The Council has accepted the resignation now and informed the government that the post is lying vacant. Now we have to appoint a new Director," Sharma told a press conference.
Rangarajan's resignation came more than a week after Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma criticised his appointment calling it "illegal and unethical", a charge he repeated even today.
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 Rangarjan 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.
