Sinha to continue till commencement of Amarnath Yatra
By News Agency of Kashmir,
Srinagar : A former bureaucrat and newly designated governor of Jammu and Kashmir Narinder Nath Vohra is likely to take the charge of state Rajbhawan next week, reliving outgoing governor SK Sinha, whose term has already expired earlier this month.
Well informed sources said that the state and central government has clearly said no to the repeated requests of Sinha to stay in the office till the completion of annual Amarnath Yatra, commencing June 18.
A spokesman of Raj Bhawan said that Governor Lt General (Retd) S K Sinha will be leaving the State of Jammu and Kashmir on June 25. The spokesman further denied the “speculations persistently being made by a section of the Press despite repeated denials that General Sinha wants to stay on in the State and has been lobbying for it with various authorities and individuals”.
Sources in the power corridors revealed that Lt Gen (Retd) S K Sinha, whose tenure has already ended on June 4, has been allowed to stay in till the commencement of the annual pilgrimage subject to the condition that he will vacate his office immediately after that allowing Narinder Nath Vohra to take over the charge, reliable sources told News Agency of Kashmir.
They said that the after around two hour long meeting between Sinha and outgoing governor early this week, state government has requested the union government to allow Sinha to continue till next week owing to the fact that Rajbahwan has already fixed his appointments.
Sources said that staying of Sinha in the office was being resented by coalition partner Peoples Democratic Party especially after the governor took one after the other decisions in his last days in the office.
Vohra, who has acted as negotiator with Kashmiri militants as special envoy on Kashmir, was said to be very close to Mufti Muhammad Sayeed, who played main role in his appointment as governor of the state.
A former Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, Vohra served from 1959-94 in different government capacities. He remained Principal Secretary to Prime Minister of India and also worked as Secretary in Home, defence etc prior to be appointed as special envoy on Kashmir by NDA government and also retained as such by present UPA government.