by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group
Kalraj Mishra made Himachal Governor
Centre begins appointment of 10 new Governors
Lokmat broke the story on June 8
Harish Gupta
New Delhi, July 15
The process of appointment of governors in the Modi's second term began today with the retirement of O P Kohli as Governor of Gujrat.
Kohli was replaced by Acharya Devvrat who was Governor of Himachal Pradesh. In place of Acharya Devvrat, the Centre appointed Kalraj Mishra who was a Caibet Minister in the Modi previous term. Since he attained the age of 75 years, he was quit his post and did not contest the Lok Sabha polls either. The President, Ramnath Kovind issued the appointment orders of Governors today.
With the appointment of Kalraj Mishra, the process of appointment of new governors has begin, say sources in the government. Lokmat was the first to report on June 8 that new governors will be appointed in states who have completed five years of their tenure.
As many as four of the governors are due to retire in July itself beginning with Om Prakash Kohli whose term ended today. The Nagaland Governor Padmanabha Acharya will also complete his tenure on July 19 followed by UP Governor Ram Naik who is to retire on July 21. The West Bengal Governor Keshri Nath Tripathi completes his five year term on July 23. C Vidya Sagar Rao of Maharashtra is completing his five year tenure on August 30 while Mridula Sinha of Goa on August 31. Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala will complete his tenure on September 1 and Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh on September 4 and Kerala Govenor Justice P Sathasivam on September 5. A decision with regard to the longest serving governor of India ESL Narasimhan who is serving since December 2009 will also be settled later this year.
Bijoya Chakravarty (Assam), Kariya Munda (Jharkhand), Bhagat Singh Koshiyari (Uttrakhand), Bandaru Dattatreya (Andhra Pradesh), are some of the senior BJP leaders who did not contest the Lok Sabha polls are being considered for these posts.
