N D Tiwari resigns as AP governor after video of alleged sex romp is aired
N D Tiwari resigns as AP governor after video of alleged sex romp is airedu00a0
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| Andhra Pradesh CM Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and ND Tiwari |
"ND Tiwari submitted his resignation to President Pratibha Patil on health grounds," said a brief statement from Raj Bhavan, the official residence of the governor.
ABN channel, owned by Telugu daily Andhra Jyothi on Friday, showed clippings allegedly of Tiwari in a sex romp. It claimed the pictures were taken in the Raj Bhavan.
The President's secretary Christy Fernandez confirmed that Tiwari had quit.
Sources said Tiwari resigned after the central government asked him to quit on receipt of a report from state government over the alleged sex scandal.
Earlier, United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi discussed the developments with senior Congress leaders Pranab Mukherjee and AK Antony in New Delhi.
The channel quoted Radhika, a woman from Uttarakhand, as saying that she had sent the young women to the Raj Bhavan on Tiwari's request through his aide.
She claimed that she was "exposing" the governor as he had failed to keep his word to provide her a mining license in Andhra Pradesh.
On a petition by the governor's officer on special duty Aryandra Sharma, the state high court Friday ordered the channel to stop the telecast of the tape and adjourned hearing in the case to Dec 30.
The governor's office issued a statement on Friday evening terming the story as "malicious". It alleged that the tapes were fabricated and untruthful.
Andhra Jyothi management denied that the tapes were fabricated and said it was trying to get the court stay order revoked.
The scandal rocked the state at a time when it was already embroiled in violent agitation over separate statehood to Telangana.
According to sources, the central government was already looking for a replacement for Tiwari in view of the constitutional crisis triggered by the en masse resignations of the legislators over the Telangana issue.
The sources pointed out that possible President's Rule would require an active governor and in view of Tiwari's poor health the government was trying to find a successor.
Tiwari, who has been chief minister of two states (Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand) and held important portfolios in union governments, was even a contender for prime ministership when he was upstaged by PV Narasimha Rao in 1991.
