Governor Malik may be sacked after UP polls

NEW DELHI, Jan 5: Meghalaya Governor Satya Pal Malik may be replaced or sacked for incessantly criticising the RSS, the ruling BJP and its top leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh and four other states, party sources said.
The BJP and RSS leadership are “quite upset” with Malik but will not take any immediate action in view of the Assembly polls in UP where farmers’ votes play a big role.
The Governor, in the national capital since New Year Day, met some farm leaders and was presented with a “siropa” on Tuesday.
The farmers from Punjab also invited Malik to visit their poll-bound state to honour him with the “Awaz-e-Hind” (Voice of India) title. The farmers were praising Malik for taking their issue up at the highest level.
But with the UP elections in mind, the government and the party have decided to remain silent for now and avoid giving Malik another handle against Modi or letting him embarrass the party more. Any action against him at this moment may give the rival parties a shot in the arm, party leaders said.
Malik was in almost all major political parties and has links with leaders across the party lines. He also belongs to the western UP region, where the BJP is trying hard to make amends with the politically-important Jat community following the unrest over the three farm laws.
Malik started his criticism of the BJP after he was transferred to Goa after Jammu and Kashmir was made a Union Territory. Following a serious tiff with the Goa government, he was shifted to Meghalaya but continued his criticism of the party and its leadership which reached a crescendo during the year-long farmers’ agitation.
In between, he took the RSS head-on by indirectly accusing one of its top leaders, Ram Madhav of offering him a huge sum of money for some controversial deals in J&K. Madhav was formerly in charge of the BJP in Meghalaya.
Malik, who has a few months left as the Governor, had set the proverbial cat among the pigeons after suggesting Home Minister Amit Shah may have been critical of the Prime Minister. He also called Modi “very arrogant”.