President Droupadi Murmu has appointed new governors for several states, as announced by the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
In a significant development, Kerala's Governor Arif Mohammed Khan has been reassigned to Bihar. Khan's tenure in Kerala was marked by several controversies, particularly due to his clashes with the CPI(M)-led state government. His outspoken stance on several issues often made his relationship uneasy with the state's leadership.
Shri Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar, the outgoing Governor of Bihar has been appointed as the Governor of Kerala.
In another key development, former Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla has been appointed as the new Governor of Manipur, a state that has witnessed ethnic violence between Meiteis and Kuki-Zo groups since May last year, resulting in over 250 deaths and thousands displaced.
Assam Governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya was holding the additional charge of Manipur.
Bhalla, who has the rare distinction of being the longest-serving Union Home Secretary, completed his five-year tenure in August this year.
He is a 1984-batch retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre.
Former Army Chief General Vijay Kumar Singh has been named the Governor of Mizoram. Singh was also a minister in the last two terms of the Modi government.
Singh retired as Army chief in 2012 after a long-drawn battle with the government over his age issue and joined the BJP ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha election, which he successfully contested from Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh.
He retained the Ghaziabad seat in 2019. Singh did not contest general elections this year.
Additionally, Dr. Hari Babu Kambhampati, the outgoing Governor of Mizoram, has been appointed as the Governor of Odisha. President Murmu also accepted the resignation of the incumbent Governor, Raghubar Das.
These appointments will take effect from the dates they will assume charge of their respective offices, according to a statement from Rashtrapati Bhavan.