New Delhi: A defiant Madhya Pradesh Governor Ram Naresh Yadav continues to remain in office despite having been asked to step down after his name had figured in an FIR for his alleged involvement in massive recruitment scam in the state.
Yadav was camping in the national capital for last five days and had sought time to meet President Pranab Mukherjee. However, after failing to get an audience from the President, Yadav returned Bhopal today, state government officials said.
Yadav had come here on Thursday to attend marriage receptions of kin of opposition leaders Mulayam Singh Yadav and Lalu Prasad Yadav, two days after registration of FIR against him by Madhya Pradesh police's Special Task Force (STF), they said.
After his name had come up in the FIR, the Union Home Ministry had advised him to step down from the office on moral grounds.
Barring attending of the marriage function, the Governor spent most of his time in Madhya Pradesh Bhavan here. He did not meet many visitors, the officials said. Opposition Congress in the state has demanded Madhya Pradesh Governor's resignation after registration of FIR against him. He has not resigned so far, they said. Yadav, a former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, was appointed Madhya Pradesh Governor by Congress in 2011 during UPA rule. His term as Governor is set to end in September 2016.
He has been charged under various sections of IPC, including 420 for cheating, by the STF probing the multi-crore and multi-layered irregularities in recruitment done by Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (MPPEB).
Yadav had allegedly recommended the names of five candidates for recruitment as forest guards to the top officials of MPPEB which conducted the examination. The registration of FIR against the Madhya Pradesh Governor comes following a hearing in the matter in the Madhya Pradesh High Court on February 20 when a division bench comprising Chief Justice A M Khanwilkar and Justice Alok Aradhe had said “the STF is free to proceed against the high dignitary.
The MPPEB scam or vyapam scam is a massive admission and recruitment scandal allegedly involving politicians and some senior and influential state government officials, including IAS officers, and the Governor's role in it had come under the scanner since the arrest of his Officer on Special Duty (OSD) Dhanraj Yadav in the case.
The Governor's son Shailesh Yadav's name too had cropped up during the investigation when an accused had alleged he was paid money for recruitment of contractual teachers. Congress had also levelled allegations against chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and sought his resignation.
