Guv picks: Minority outreach, polls the key

Leader of Opposition in Rajasthan, Gulab Chand Kataria has been appointed Assam Governor. He was a CM aspirant in the pollbound state

Shanker Arnimesh

New Delhi: The central government appointed six new Governors while reshuffling seven others on Sunday. This comes in the wake of President Droupadi Murmu accepting the resignations of Bhagat Singh Koshyari as Governor of Maharashtra and Radha Krishnan Mathur as the Lt. Governor of Ladakh.

Mathur has been replaced by B.D. Mishra, the Arunachal Pradesh Governor while Koshyari, who ruffled many feathers during his tenure as Maharashtra Governor, has been replaced by Jharkhand Governor Ramesh Bais.

Maharashtra is a crucial state for the BJP where the party won 48 seats in alliance with the then Shiv Sena in 2019 and it wanted a calm person who does not create controversies at election time. Party sources said the BJP does not want an aggressive person in a state under its rule.

In January, Koshyari had expressed his desire to step down after frequent run-ins with the former Uddhav Thackeray-led government. Apart from Mishra and Bais, some other Governors have been reshuffled.

These are: Andhra Pradesh Governor Biswa Bhusan Harichandan has been appointed as Governor of Chhattisgarh; Chhattisgarh Gover nor Anusuiya Uikye has been appointed Governor of Manipur; Manipur Governor La.

Ganesan has been appointed Governor of Nagaland; Bihar Governor Phagu Chauhan has been appointed Governor of Meghalaya; and HP Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar appointed as Governor of Bihar. Leader of Opposition in Rajasthan, Gulab Chand Kataria has been appointed Assam Governor. A CM aspirant, Kataria’s appointment comes ahead of the Rajasthan polls.

Two leaders from UP, Lakshman Prasad Acharya, who is a MLC and Rajya Sabha MP Shiv Pratap Shukla, a tribal and a Brahmin respectively, have also been handpicked with an eye on the Lok Sabha elections.

Former Tamil Nadu MP, C.P. Radha Krishnan, has been appointed Jharkhand Governor while retired judge, Justice S. Abdul Nazeer, who hails from poll-bound Karnataka, has been appointed as Andhra Pradesh Governor where the BJP is trying to get a foothold. Nazeer was the lone minority community judge on the bench that pronounced the Ram Janmabhoomi verdict.  

(Courtesy: The Print)