Raipur: Chhattisgarh Governor Anusuiya Uikey, who blocked the 76 percent reservation bill and put the opposition party BJP in an awkward situation, has been transferred to Manipur. After February 23, she will head to Manipur as a Governor. Meanwhile, here in Chhattisgarh, she was replaced by the former minister and governor of Andhra Pradesh Biswabhushan Harichandan.
Uikey, who headed the state as the first woman tribal leader, belongs to neighbouring state Madhya Pradesh and had been running in confrontation with the Bhupesh Baghel-led Congress government since the amended reservation bill was unanimously passed by the Chhattisgarh government in December 2022. Since Uikey took charge of her office as governor in Chhattisgarh in 2019, the major period of her relationship with the Baghel government remained cordial. However, her sudden transfer to Manipur came as a shocker to several people.
Meanwhile, sources within BJP informed that her transfer was not a shocker for party members. Recently, when BJP National President JP Nadda visited Chhattisgarh, some senior party leaders complained that the action of the governor helped the Congress in creating an anti-OBC perception among the common masses. Therefore, some action was expected, the source said.
The Governor had halted the bill stating that she only asked for the increase of the ST quota in the bill, but the government has increased the quota of all categories. She also asked the Congress government to justify that if the High Court has cancelled the provision of 58% quota, then how a bill having a provision 76% quota (ST 32%, OBCs 27%, SCs 13%, and EWS 4%) will sustain?
She withheld the bill and refused to sign it despite the Congress government’s repeated allegations of her decision being politically motivated. This had created an opportunity for Congress to brand her and BJP as 'anti-reservation' and also provided a fertile breeding ground for the Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel’s aggressive identity politics, Ashok Tomar, the political analyst said.
She was slow to react to changing political scenario in Chhattisgarh and finally, she faced the repercussions, he added.
