Former Union Minister and senior BJP leader from Uttar Pradesh, Manoj Sinha, was on Thursday appointed as Lt Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, a Rashtrapati Bhawan spokesman said.

A communique issued by the President’s secretariat said that the resignation of Girish Chandra Murmu as Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir has been accepted.

The communique issued by the President’s press secretary Ajay Kumar said: “The President has been pleased to appoint Shri Manoj Sinha, to be the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir with effect from the date he assumes charge of his office” in place of Murmu.

The 61-year-old Sinha was born on July 1, 1959 in Mohanpura of Ghazipur district of eastern UP and has been actively involved in working for the backward villages of eastern Uttar Pradesh.

His political career started when he was elected the president of Banaras Hindu University Students Union in 1982. He was elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time in 1996 and repeated the term in 1999.

Sinha has been a member of the BJP national council from 1989 to 1996. He was elected to the Lower House for a third term in national politics when the BJP swept the Lok Sabha elections in 2014.

He was former Minister of State for Railways and later held an independent charge of Ministry of Communication.