Three BJP loyalists were rewarded in Tuesday’s reshuffle and appointment of governors.
New Delhi: On Tuesday, President Ram Nath Kovind effected a reshuffle of governors, while appointing new faces to Bihar, Haryana and Uttarakhand.
While the most high-profile of the changes has been the transfer of Satya Pal Malik from Bihar to J&K, the President also moved Haryana Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki to Tripura. The Tripura governor, Tathagata Roy, has been transferred to Meghalaya, while the incumbent in the state, Ganga Prasad, has been transferred as the Sikkim Governor.
The three new governors are Lalji Tandon (Bihar), Satyadev Narayan Arya (Haryana) and Baby Rani Maurya (Uttarakhand).
Tandon and Arya will replace Malik and Solanki both of whom have been transferred, while Maurya takes over from K.K. Paul, who retired as Uttarakhand governor.
ThePrint profiles three of the lesser-known governors.
Also read: Why Satya Pal Malik was picked to replace N.N. Vohra as J&K Governor
Baby Rani Maurya, Uttarakhand
Maurya, a Dalit BJP leader, does not have roots in the party. Her father Ram Singh was a known Congress loyalist, who was a party councillor in the Agra municipal corporation.
The transformation came when she married bank manager Pradeep Maurya, whose family had ties with the BJP.
In 1995, when the mayoral seat was reserved, the BJP hunted for ‘family-oriented’ woman candidate and Maurya fit the bill. She won the election and was appointed Agra mayor.
During the NDA government in 1999, she was a member of the National Commission for Women. She unsuccessfully contested the 2002 assembly elections from Agra.
Those close to her believe she has been rewarded for being a committed party worker despite the party being in the wilderness in Uttar Pradesh for years.
Baby Rani Maurya has held posts such as the state general secretary and was a prominent member of President Kovind’s team when he was the president of the BJP’s national Dalit Morcha, where Maurya was treasurer.
A former member of the Uttar Pradesh BJP executive committee, she had recently been given charge of the state’s Child Commission.
“She never went against the party and diligently performed her duties given to her,” said a source close to her.
Ganga Prasad, Sikkim
Prasad is known to be a close aide of the BJP ‘bhishmpitah’ in Bihar, Kailash Pati Mishra, and Govindacharya, a one-time firebrand leader in the party.
He reportedly let party meetings be held in his house in Patna when the party had no presence in Bihar.
“Unlike today, when we have party offices everywhere in the state, there were times when we could barely manage a venue for party meetings. Prasad had an open space in front of his house that he opened up for party workers,” said a BJP leader.
A B.Com graduate who was born in Patna, Prasad first became a member of the legislative council in 1994 and stayed on for 18 years. When NDA came to power in the state, led by Nitish Kumar, he was the leader of the ruling combine in the legislative council.
Prasad has three sons, one of whom is Sanjeev Chaurasia, the MLA from Digha constituency, while another was a councillor in the Patna municipal corporation. “Now, his daughter-in-law is the councillor,” said a source. The third son runs a school.
Prasad is active in Patna’s social circles. He is the chairman of Dadhichi Dehdaan Samiti, an RSS-inspired NGO, and also heads the Arya Samaj in Bihar.
Satyadev Narayan Arya, Haryana
A Dalit leader from Nalanda in Bihar, Arya is an eight-time MLA from Rajgir constituency in the district. Leaders close to him say he belonged to a very poor family before his entry into politics.
Arya too was mentored by Kailash Pati Mishra, whom he considered a father figure. He grew close to late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
“In the early 70s, Arya contested his first election from Rajgir but lost. He contested again in 1977 and won. He was made a minister in the then Bihar government. He then contested in the 1990 assembly elections and lost. In 1995, he won the election and remained the MLA till 2015. He was a minister in Nitish government during this tenure,” said a leader close to Arya.
Sources say that Arya shares a good rapport with Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well. He has three sons and two daughters.
Also read: Karnataka’s Vala continues notorious tradition of governors taking risks with the courts