Five new governors named; Ajay Kumar Bhalla gets Manipur charge
Former army chief Vijay Kumar Singh has been named the new Mizoram governor while Kerala governor Arif Mohammed Khan has been shifted to Bihar
President Droupadi Murmu announced on Tuesday (December 23) the appointment of new governors to five states.
According to a press communique from the Rashtrapati Bhavan, President Murmu has also accepted the resignation of Odisha Governor Raghubar Das. These appointments will take effect from the dates they will assume charge of their respective offices, it added.
Former Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla was named the governor of strife-torn Manipur which has been witnessing periodic ethnic clashes between Meiteis and Kuki-Zo groups since May last year.
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Former army chief Vijay Kumar Singh, who was also a minister in the last two terms of the Modi government, has been named the new Mizoram governor while Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan has been shifted to Bihar, where assembly elections are due next year.
Vishwanath Arlekar has been named the new governor of Kerala.
Bhalla, who has the rare distinction of being the longest-serving Union Home Secretary, completed his five-year tenure in August this year. He is a 1984-batch retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre.
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President Droupadi Murmu appointed Bhalla the governor of Manipur, a statement issued by the Rashtrapati Bhavan said.
Assam Governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya was holding the additional charge of Manipur.
General (retd) Vijay Kumar Singh has been appointed Mizoram governor. Singh retired as Army chief in 2012 after a long-drawn battle with the government over his age issue and joined the BJP ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha election, which he successfully contested from Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh.
He retained the Ghaziabad seat in 2019. Singh did not contest general elections this year.
Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan has been appointed as Bihar governor, the statement said.
Mizoram Governor Hari Babu Kambhampati has been appointed as the new Odisha governor in place of Das, the statement said.
