The union goverment may be planning a major reshuffle of governors of states. PMO and Congress insiders say that there could be many new apointees to gubernatorial posts.

According to sources, such roles are being planned for party seniors like Janardhan Diwedi, Girija Vyas and Jagadambika Pal. Chhattisgarh governor Shekhar Dutt might be sent to Karnataka while Uttar Pradesh governor BL Joshi could be dropped from the fray with Hansraj Bharadwaj replacing him at the Lucknow Raj Bhavan. Joshi, meanwhile, is learnt to have cancelled his trip to Tirupati.

Despite Shekhar Dutt failing to augment centre-state coordination in the fight against Maoists, he is being rewarded with the Karnataka posting, many feel. Insiders say that Dutt is being protected by his brother-in-law, Pulok Chatterjee, who is also the principal secretary at the prime minister's office. Punjab governor and former home minister Shivraj Patil is on a visit to Tirupati.

Prime minister Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi are under tremendous presssure from many governors to shift them to bigger states. As many as eight, governors are learnt to have put in such requests.