Kavinder Gupta takes oath as new Ladakh L-G

Leh/Jammu: Senior BJP leader Kavinder Gupta on Friday took oath as the new lieutenant governor (LG) of the Union Territory of Ladakh, four days after President Droupadi Murmu appointed him to the constitutional post.

Gupta was administered the oath of office by the chief justice of the Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court, Justice Arun Palli, at a ceremony held at Ladakh Raj Niwas in Leh, officials said.

Chief Secretary Pawan Kotwal read the warrant of Gupta's appointment by President Droupadi Murmu.

He is the third Lieutenant Governor of the Union Territory and succeeds Brigadier B D Mishra, who took over as LG of the Union Territory on February 19, 2024. Mishra had succeeded R K Mathur, a bureaucrat appointed as the first LG of Ladakh in 2019, after the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir was split into two Union Territories.

President Murmu appointed Gupta as the new Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh on Monday.

Gupta has held several key posts in the past, both in the government and within his party.

He was the J&K deputy chief minister for 51 days in 2018 during the BJP-PDP government. He quit the post when the BJP withdrew its support from the Mehbooba Mufti-led government.

Hailing from Jammu city’s Janipur area, 66-year-old Gupta has also served as Jammu mayor for a record three consecutive terms from 2005 to 2010. He also served as general secretary of the BJP's state unit and headed the J&K unit of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) for two consecutive terms from 1993 to 1998.

Gupta was elected as an MLA for the first time from the Gandhi Nagar constituency, defeating sitting Congress minister Raman Bhalla in the 2014 Assembly elections.

Following the PDP-BJP alliance's victory in those elections, Gupta was unanimously elected as the speaker of the House.

Gupta, who also earlier served as secretary of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), spent about 13 months in jail during the Emergency as a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) worker.