President appoints six new governors, reshuffles three
According to the Rashtrapati Bhavan communique, former Tripura deputy chief minister Jishnu Dev Varma will be the new Telangana governor
In major gubernatorial appointments and reshuffles, President Droupadi Murmu has appointed former Union minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar as the new governor of Jharkhand succeeding CP Radhakrishnan, who will be the new governor of Maharashtra, according to a communique from the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Both Jharkhand and Maharashtra, along with Haryana, are scheduled to go for assembly elections later this year.
The president has also appointed Gulab Chand Kataria as the governor of Punjab, replacing Banwarilal Purohit who had resigned earlier this year citing personal reasons, and announced Lakshman Prasad Acharya as the governor of Assam with the additional charge of Manipur, the communique issued past-midnight on Saturday said.
“These appointments will take effect from the dates they will assume charge of their respective offices,” the statement said.
Acharya has replaced Kataria, who has also been appointed the administrator of the Union Territory of Chandigarh, as the governor of Assam. “Lakshman Prasad Acharya, Governor of Sikkim, appointed as Governor of Assam and has also been given additional charge of the Governor of Manipur,” the statement added.
In Manipur, Anusuiya Uikye has been serving as the governor since February last year.
“Hon’ble Shri Laxman Acharya Ji has devoted his life empowering the poor. He has a rich organisational & legislative experience with an excellent tenure as the Governor of Sikkim,” Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma posted on X. “I am confident he will be an outstanding Governor for our state.”
In Punjab, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led state government and the Raj Bhavan under Purohit have been at loggerheads over various issues, including the calling of an assembly session and appointments of vice-chancellors of state-run universities. On Sunday, chief minister Bhagwant Mann said he will welcome Kataria and will work in coordination with him.
“The president has appointed the new governor. We will welcome the new governor. We will work together,” Mann told reporters in Chandigarh. The AAP leader said he respected Purohit but the latter tried to create an “atmosphere of conflict” in the state.
President Murmu accepted the resignation of Purohit, who put in his papers in February this year as the governor of Punjab and the administrator of Chandigarh.
Veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Om Prakash Mathur will replace Acharya as the governor of Sikkim while Radhakrishnan, who was also holding additional charge of Telangana, will succeed Ramesh Bais as the governor of Maharashtra.
Former Union labour and employment minister and veteran BJP leader Santosh Gangwar expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on being appointed as the new governor of poll-bound Jharkhand.
“The party has always given me everything without asking for it. Now they have expressed their trust in me by making me the Governor. I am also grateful to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for this,” Gangwar, the eight-time Lok Sabha MP from Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh, told reporters.
According to the Rashtrapati Bhavan communique, former Tripura deputy chief minister Jishnu Dev Varma will be the new Telangana governor. Former IAS officer K Kailashnathan has been appointed as Lt Governor of the UT of Puducherry.
Senior BJP leader from Maharashtra Haribhau Kisanrao Bagde has been appointed the governor of Rajasthan, succeeding Kalraj Mishra. Rajasthan chief minister Bhajanlal Sharma congratulated Bagde for being appointed as the governor, in a post on X, saying: “…Under your patronage and guidance, Rajasthan state will rapidly progress towards becoming a developed Rajasthan.”
Former Assam lawmaker Ramen Deka and former Lok Sabha MP from Mysore in Karnataka CH Vijayashankar have been appointed as governors of Chhattisgarh and Meghalaya, respectively, the communique said.