JOIN USGovernors for 3 states, Manipur goes to Najma
The Centre on Wednesday named former Union minister Najma Heptullah the governor of Manipur, along with three other gubernatorial appointments.
Former Rajya Sabha member V P Singh Badnore will take charge as governor of poll-bound Punjab, while media entrepreneur-turned politician Banwarilal Purohit is headed to Assam.
Former Delhi Opposition leader Jagdish Mukhi will be Lt Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. He will replace Lt General (Retd) A K Singh, who was appointed during the UPA regime in 2013.
Meghalaya Governor
V Shanmuganathan was holding additional charge of Manipur, while Nagaland’s P B Acharya was in charge of Assam. Haryana Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki was looking after Punjab.
Civil servant-turned-BJP politician Alphons Kannanthanam and former IPS officer Farooq Khan, BJP’s national secretary in-charge of Northeast, were appointed administrators of Chandigarh and Lakshadweep, respectively.
However, PTI reported that Kannanthanam’s appointment was put on hold following opposition from parties in Punjab.
Anandiben Patel, who recently resigned as chief minister of Gujarat, did not make it to the list, amid speculation that she would find a place in one of the Raj Bhavans. Anandiben had made a surprise announcement last month about her resignation, saying she was nearing 75 and wanted to make way for a younger leader.
Rajya Sabha MP Najma (76), who handled the Ministry of Minority Affairs, had quit the Union Cabinet last month. It was seen as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s plan to set a 75-year age criteria for membership to the council of ministers. DH had then reported that Najma could be considered for governorship.
Najma, a six-term MP who represents Madhya Pradesh, will have to quit the Rajya Sabha before she assumes the governor’s post in Manipur, which is going to polls early next year.
The youngest among the new appointees, Badnore (68), was a Rajya Sabha member till recently. He was not given re-nomination. Purohit (70), a former BJP MP from Nagpur who won the seat twice on a Congress ticket, owns Hitavada, an English newspaper founded by Gopal Krishna Gokhale.