Kerala, Bihar governors swapped, ex-Union home secretary gets Manipur charge

President Droupadi Murmu appointed new governors for Kerala, Odisha, Bihar, Mizoram, and Manipur on Tuesday.

President Droupadi Murmu on Tuesday appointed Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, former Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla, and ex-army chief and former Union minister General (retd) VK Singh as new governors of Bihar, Manipur and Mizoram, respectively, a statement issued by the Rashtrapati Bhavan said.

Former Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla is the new Governor of Manipur.(PTI)

President Murmu also accepted the resignation of Odisha Governor Raghubar Das, the statement said, adding Mizoram Governor Hari Babu Kambhampati has been appointed as the new Odisha governor. Bihar Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar has been named the new governor of Kerala.

“The above appointments will take effect from the dates they will assume charge of their respective offices,” the Rashtrapati Bhavan said.

Bhalla, who served as the Union home secretary from August 2019 till August this year, will take over as the governor of Manipur, which has been in the throes of ethnic strife between Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities since May 3 last year. The cycle of violence and reprisal attacks has prompted the Centre to deploy more troops and reimpose Afspa in parts of Manipur, where at least 260 people been killed in the ethnic violence.

Following Bhalla’s appointment, there was a buzz in the political circles of the northeastern state and among security forces about the Centre’s move to send the retired IAS officer in the gubernatorial role and if the move was a precursor to a possible imposition of President’s Rule.

“Nobody knows for sure if the Centre has decided to impose President’s Rule by sending an officer, who is he most trusted by the home minister. These are just speculations for now. Maybe this has got nothing to do with President’ Rule but the fact that Centre wants an officer, who has closely tracked what is happening in Manipur. There is already a security advisor chosen by the home minister who is the chief of the unified command,” a mid-level BJP leader, requesting anonymity, said.

Bhalla did not respond to HT’s request for a comment on his appointment.

Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan and the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government in the southern state have been at loggerheads over several issues, primarily about the functioning of state universities and his non-signing of certain bills passed by the assembly. Last week, SFI activists protested against Khan outside the Kerala university campus during his visit to attend a programme. Different Left groups in the state have accused him of trying to appoint people linked to ABVP — student wing affiliated with the RSS — to key level appointments in the universities.

Khan has been appointed as the governor of Bihar, where assembly elections are due next year.

Gen (retd) VK Singh, who served as a minister in the Narendra Modi government from 2014 and 2024, did not contest the Lok Sabha elections this summer, having represented Ghaziabad seat in Uttar Pradesh for a decade. His appointment as the governor of Mizoram is important given the fact that the state has been receiving thousands of refugees from violence-hit Myanmar, heavy smuggling of arms and ammunition from Myanmar, and various groups protesting the government’s plan to fence the Indo-Myanmar border.

While Raghubar Das, former chief minister of Jharkhand, has resigned as the governor of Odisha, there were reports of him returning to active politics. His meeting with Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in September, ahead of the Jharkhand assembly polls had fuelled speculation. The BJP had then dismissed the speculation, but with a rejig in the national team expected shortly, the possibility of Das making a comeback is again being discussed in party circles.