N D Tiwari on Saturday resigned as Andhra Pradesh Governor in the wake of a raging controversy after a sting operation purportedly showed him in a compromising position with three women.
86-year-old Tiwari, a former chief minister of undivided Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, sent his resignation to President Pratibha Patil on "health grounds", said a press communique from the Raj Bhavan.
Late in the evening, the resignation was forwarded to the central government by President Pratibha Patil.
The resignation of 86-year-old Tiwari was sent by Patil's office to the government after it was received from the office of Andhra Pradesh Governor, official sources said here.
The President, who is at present touring Lakshwadeep, will accept the resignation after receiving a recommendation from the government.
The resignation came a day after Telugu television channel 'ABN Andhra Jyothi' aired a footage captured in a sting operation of an elderly man with three women in Raj Bhavan in a compromising position, which the channel said was of Tiwari.
The Raj Bhavan denied it and promptly approached the High Court and got a restraint order on the channel from telecasting the footage.
The sting operation evoked a string of demands from political parties, like TDP, CPM, CPI and BJP, that he be sacked. Women's organisations also staged demonstrations deploring the Governor's behaviour and demanded that he step down immediately.
The Congress welcomed the resignation saying Tiwari has taken the appropriate decision. Party sources said the Governor of some neighbouring state could be given additional charge of Andhra Pradesh for some time.
Indications that Tiwari cannot continue in the post emerged when the Centre sought a report from the state Chief Secretary on the issue.
"I think he has taken an appropriate decision keeping in view the high standards of public life. We welcome it," AICC media department chief Janardan Dwivedi told reporters in Delhi.
The Telugu channel's Editor-in-Chief Vemuri Radhakrishna said they have evidence to back what they have shown. "Let them serve defamation notice. We are even ready to deal with the issue".
This is not the first time that Tiwari, also a former Union Minister, has figured in controversies involving women.
Sometime ago, a lawyer Rohit Shekhar had filed a paternity suit in Delhi High Court against Tiwari claiming that he was born out of intimate relationship between the Congress leader and his mother Ujwala Sharma. The charge was, however, denied by the Governor.
The Delhi High Court had rejected the petition on the ground that Shekhar filed it a long time after becoming a major and was time-barred.
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