NEW DELHI: President Ram Nath Kovind on Saturday made the much-awaited announcement of appointments of new governors in five states and a new Lieutenant Governor in the union territory of Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
The states which got new governors are Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Meghalaya and Tamil Nadu which finally got its first full-time Governor after a year amid the continuing political crisis.
A statement from the President’s office said that the appointments will come into effect from the date the incumbents assume charge of the new posts.
Sources say that the President would soon appoint governors in few other states such as Gujarat, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh as the appointments have been due for quite some time in these states too.
Here is the brief profile of the five states, the Union territory and the six people who will don the constitutional hats.
Banwarilal Purohit in Tamil Nadu
Banwarilal Purohit, who was the Governor of Assam till now, was appointed as the Governor of Tamil Nadu. Among all the newly appointed governors, Purohit is likely to have the most eventful tenure given the political turmoil within the ruling party AIADMK. Purohit (77) will be replacing Ch Vidyasagar Rao who was holding the additional charge of Tamil Nadu while being the governor of Maharashtra.
There had been demands of appointment of a full-time governor in view of the political situation in the southern state.
The post of Tamil Nadu governor freed last year when K Rosaiah retired. Purohit is a veteran politician from Nagpur, the headquarters of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
Purohit’s first litmus test as the governor could come soon as a breakaway faction of AIADK has been threatening to dethrone chief minister Edappadi Palaniswami.
The matter is currently in court but the court’s decision could give Purohit his first major task: calling a floor test while all parties will obviously keep a close watch on Purohit’s each move. Purohit has a history of juggling political.
He also launched his own party once. He was sacked from the Congress for taking part in kar seva in Ayodhya in 1991 and this is when he first joined BJP.
However, he again went back to Congress in 1999 only to return to the BJP.
Purohit was a two-time MLA and a three-time MP from Nagpur. He is also the managing editor of English daily Hitavada, founded in 1911 by Gopal Krishna Gokhle.
Jagdish Mukhi in Assam
Mukhi, the Lieutenant governor of Andaman & Nicobar islands, will now replace Purohit in Assam. Mukhi, a BJP veteran, previously held various profiles in the Delhi Government such as Finance, Planning, Excise & Taxation and Higher Education.
In the Delhi Assembly, he led the Opposition for almost ten years and represented the Delhi‘s Janakpuri constituency for several terms starting 1980, winning the seat seven times.
Admiral Devendra Kumar Joshi in Andaman & Nicobar islands
Mukhi’s charge will be taken over by Joshi who was appointed as the Lieutenant governor of Andaman & Nicobar islands.
Joshi was the Chief of Naval Staff from 31 August 2012 to 26 February 2014. He had resigned in the middle of his tenure as Navy chief in 2014 following a spate of accidents that had raised serious questions about the safety record of the force, becoming the first armed forces chief to quit since Independence. He was to retire in August 2015.
Joshi has to his credit the Param Vishist Seva Medal, the Ati Vishist Seva medal, Yudh Seva Medal, Nau Sena Medal and the Vishist Seva Medal. He has also worked as Defence Adviser in the Indian High Commission in Singapore from 1996 to 1999.
Brigadier (Dr) BD Mishra (Retired) in Arunachal Pradesh
Mishra, who has served in various wars and operational roles for the nation, was appointed the Governor of Arunachal Pradesh. Arunachal Pradesh did not have a full-time governor since the sacking of Jyoti Prasad Rajkhowa on September 12, 2016. Nagaland governor Padmanabha Acharya was holding the additional charge of the state since then.
Mishra retired from the Indian Army on July 31, 1995, as Brigadier, after an illustrious career in the Forces, beginning as a permanent regular infantry officer, on December 17, 1961. It was Mishra who led a team of Black Cat Commandos in 1993 that rescued all the passengers safely of hijacked Indian Airlines plane on April 24, 1993.
Satya Pal Malik in Bihar
Former Union minister Satya Pal Malik was appointed the Governor of politically sensitive state Bihar. Malik has held many important positions in both Centre and State.
The vacancy arose in Bihar Raj Bhavan after its former occupant Kovind was elected as President of India. 71-year-old Malik was Minister of state in the 1990s and is a three-term Parliamentarian. He has also been the Chairman and member of many important Parliamentary Committees during his long political career.
Ganga Prasad in Meghalaya
Prasad, a senior BJP leader from Bihar who has served the party in various capacities, was appointed as the Governor of Meghalaya. Prasad was an MLC in Bihar for 18 years. He led the Opposition as an MLC for five of those years.