Hyderabad, Dec 26 (IANS) Andhra Pradesh Governor N.D. Tiwari may resign later in the day over allegations of his involvement in a “sex scandal”.
A day after the Telugu television channel ABN showed pictures of an elderly man purported to be Tiwari with three young women in bed, pressure is mounting on the octogenarian leader to quit on moral grounds.

Sources in the Raj Bhavan said the centre may ask 86-year-old Tiwari to submit his resignation. They have also not ruled out the possibility of the centre recalling the governor.

The state government has also sent a report on the alleged scandal to the union home ministry.

United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi is believed to have discussed the developments with senior leaders Pranab Mukherjee and A.K. Antony.

ABN channel owned by Telugu daily Andhra Jyothi Friday showed explicit clippings purported to be of Tiwari with women in bed. It claimed that the pictures were taken in the Raj Bhavan.

The channel quoted Radhika, a woman from Uttarakhand, as saying that she 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 failed to keep his word to provide her an iron ore 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 telecasting the story and adjourned hearing in the case to Dec 30.

The governor’s office issued a statement 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 vacated.

The “sex scandal” rocked the state at a time when it was already embroiled in violent agitation over separate statehood to Telangana.

The centre was already looking for a replacement to 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 centre was trying to find a suitable successor.

Tiwari, who has the distinction of serving as the chief ministers of two states (Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand), was even a contender for prime ministership after the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in 1991.