Bengaluru, Sept.1- With Karnataka Governor Vajubhai R. Vala’s five year term ending on Saturday, there is no official word yet on whether he will get an extension or someone else will replace him as the constitutional head of the State.
However, there are indications that Vala may get a second term.
Vala, now so, took charge as the State Governor on Sept.1, 2014.
Vala, a trusted aide of Prime Minister Narendra Modi had served as Gujarat Finance Minister when Modi was the Chief Minister, before being elected as Gujarat Assembly Speaker in Jan. 2013.
Although Vala maintained cordial relations with the government for most part, he did have his share of frictions. The previous Congress Government headed by Siddharamaiah took him head-on over the Karnataka State Universities Bill- 2017, with the then Higher Education Minister Basavaraj Rayaraddi openly criticising the Governor’s Office for not giving assent to the Bill.
Vala also came under attack when he invited the BJP which did not have the required number of 113 MLAs to form the Government after the announcement of May 2018 Assembly poll results, much to the chagrin of the JD(S)-Congress coalition. Vala was also the target during H.D. Kumaraswamy’s trust vote in July 2019, when he reportedly intervened with the business of the Legislative Assembly.
With no official word on whether Vala will get an extension, the names of former Union Minister and firebrand BJP leader Uma Bharathi and former Lok Sabha speaker Sunita Mahajan are doing the rounds as possible replacement for Vala.
This post was published on September 1, 2019 5:56 pm