President appoints new governors; CM congratulates new Arunachal guv

NEW DELHI/ITANAGAR, 12 Feb: The government on Sunday appointed six new faces as governors, including retired Supreme Court judge S Abdul Nazeer, who was part of the historic 2019 Ayodhya verdict, and four BJP leaders, besides carrying out a rejig of the gubernatorial posts in seven states.

According to a Rashtrapati Bhavan spokesperson, President Droupadi Murmu has accepted the resignations of Bhagat Singh Koshyari and RK Mathur as the governor of Maharashtra and the lieutenant governor of Ladakh, respectively.

Ramesh Bais, who was the governor of Jharkhand, has been appointed governor of Maharashtra, the official said.

It was not immediately known what reasons prompted Mathur’s resignation.

The president appointed Arunachal Pradesh Governor BD Mishra in his place, the spokesperson said.

Justice Nazeer, a former Supreme Court judge, according to the spokesperson, was appointed as the new governor of Andhra Pradesh. The incumbent, Biswa Bhusan Harichandan, has been shifted to Chhattisgarh.

The president also appointed retired lieutenant general Kaiwalya Trivikram Parnaik as governor of Arunachal Pradesh, the spokesperson said.

Four BJP leaders, including two from Uttar Pradesh, were also appointed as new governors.

According to the spokesperson, Lakshman Prasad Acharya, CP Radhakrishnan, Shiv Pratap Shukla and Gulab Chand Kataria have been appointed as governors of Sikkim, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh and Assam, respectively.

While Acharya is a member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council, Radhakrishnan is a two-time Lok Sabha member of the BJP from Coimbatore.

Former minister of state for finance Shukla was the BJP’s candidate in Rajya Sabha and retired in 2022, whereas Kataria is the sitting leader of opposition in the Rajasthan assembly.

Other than Bais, Mishra and Harichandan, the other transfers included the shifting of Anusuiya Uikye from Chhattisgarh to Manipur, Ganesan from Manipur to Nagaland, Phagu Chauhan from Bihar to Meghalaya, and Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar from Himachal Pradesh to Bihar.

CM congratulates new guv

Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Sunday congratulated retired lieutenant general KT Parnaik on being appointed as the new governor of the state.

President Droupadi Murmu on Sunday appointed Parnaik as the governor of the Northeastern state.

“Respect and congratulations to Lt General Kaiwalya Trivikram Parnaik, PVSM, UYSM, YSM (retired) on being appointed as Governor of Arunachal Pradesh,” Khandu tweeted.

“Look forward to learning from your vast experience and working with you for prosperity of our state,” he added.

Parnaik replaces BD Mishra, who has been appointed as the governor of the union territory of Ladakh.

Mishra had assumed office in the Northeastern state on 3 October, 2017. (PTI)