President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday appointed four senior BJP leaders as Governors of Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and Gujarat.
Former Petroleum Minister Ram Naik has been appointed Governor of Uttar Pradesh. Balramji Dass Tandon takes charge in Chhattisgarh, former Uttar Pradesh Assembly Speaker Keshari Nath Tripathi in West Bengal, and Jan Sangh veteran and former Delhi BJP chief Om Prakash Kohli in Gujarat.
These appointments follow the resignations, transfers and expiry of term of governors who were appointed during UPA rule.
The governors who resigned included BL Joshi (Uttar Pradesh), MK Narayanan (West Bengal), Shekhar Dutt (Chhattisgarh), Ashwani Kumar (Nagaland) and BV Wanchoo (Goa).
Two Governors — HR Bhardwaj (Karnataka) and Devanand Konwar (Tripura) — retired late last month while a few days ago Lt Governor of Puducherry Virendra Kataria too quit his post.
Gujarat Governor Kamala Beniwal, who crossed swords with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the appointment of the Lokayukta in the State, was transferred to Mizoram and Mizoram Governor Vakkom Purushothaman shifted to Nagaland for the remainder of their terms.
However, unhappy with the transfer, Purushothaman resigned from the post. Padmanabha Balakrishna Acharya, who has been appointed Governor of Nagaland, will hold additional charge as Governor of Tripura. A few other governors appointed by the previous UPA regime, however, continue to remain in office despite the NDA Government’s pressure.
Transfers likelyThey include K Sankaranarayanan (Maharashtra), Sheila Dikshit (Kerala), Jaganath Pahadia (Haryana) and Shivraj V Patil (Punjab). However, government sources say the Maharashtra and the Kerala Governors may be transferred shortly.
Other names doing the rounds for the post of governor are former Lucknow MP Lalji Tandon, former BJP leader from Kerala O Rajagopal and party veteran from Himachal Pradesh Shanta Kumar.