BHUBANESWAR: Former Jharkhand chief minister Raghubar Das was sworn in as the 26th Governor of Odisha at Raj Bhavan here on Tuesday. Acting Chief Justice of Orissa High Court Justice Bidyut Ranjan Sarangi administered the oath of allegiance and office to him.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, ministers, MLAs, MPs and other dignitaries attended the swearing in ceremony moderated by chief secretary PK Jena. Das replaces Ganeshi Lal as the Governor of Odisha. After taking oath, he inspected the guard of honour at Raj Bhawan.
Earlier in the day, he visited Lingaraj temple here and offered prayers. Das had also visited Jagannath Temple in Puri after arriving in the state on Monday. He was welcomed by the chief minister, speaker Pramila Mallik, chief secretary and director general of police Sunil Bansal at Raj Bhavan later in the evening.
Das was appointed the Governor of Odisha on October 18. Prior to this, he was a national vice president of the BJP. He was the first non-tribal chief minister of Jharkhand from 2014 to 2019. Das was involved in politics since his college days and participated in the Jayprakash Narayan movement. He was arrested in Gaya during the movement. He was again arrested during the Emergency. Subsequently, Das joined the Janata Party in 1977. He joined BJP as a founding member in 1980 and went on to become chief minister of Jharkhand.