Arunachal Pradesh Governor Jyoti Prasad Rajkhowa removed

A defiant Arunachal Pradesh Governor Jyoti Prasad Rajkhowa was on Monday removed as the Governor of the state. President Pranab Mukherjee directed that Meghalaya’s Governor Shanmuganathan will take additional charge of Governor of Arunachal.

“Rajkhowa shall "cease to hold the office", a Rashtrapati Bhavan communique said on Monday. Sacking of Rajkhowa was imminent after Home Minister Rajnath Singh met President Mukherjee on September 7.

During the 20-minute meeting Singh had reportedly conveyed to the President that Rajkhowa’s continuance in the post has become untenable.

The Home Minister was learnt to have told the President that the central government had lost confidence in Rajkhowa and the only option left to remove him is to “withdraw the pleasure of the President”.

The Home Minister’s meeting with the President came after Rajkhowa refused to step down despite a nudge by the Centre to put in his papers after the Supreme Court passed serious strictures against him over the dismissal of the Congress government last year.