Najeeb Jung says had offered to quit twice but was asked by PM to continue

“Why are you not telling the full story?” Prime Minister Narendra Modi is reported to have remarked when outgoing Delhi lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung met him for a good 57 minutes on Friday, a day after he put in his papers. The PM was referring to his two meetings with Jung in the past two-and-a-half years, when the latter offered to step aside and make room for a NDA appointee in Delhi Raj Niwas, but was asked by Modi to carry on.

The first meeting between PM and Jung took place just a day after the former took oath as prime minister on May 26. Jung offered to resign, telling his host during the 40-minute meeting how he was, after all, a UPA appointee. However, Modi was quick to turn down the suggestion, saying, “You carry on with your work.”

The PM’s words gave Jung the confidence to continue as Delhi LG under the new dispensation. Of course, a month after he completed three years in office on June 6, 2016, Jung returned to Modi with a renewed offer to step down. The LG is believed to have mentioned that even though the Delhi LG did not have a fixed term, it was a convention to review the appointment every three years.