New Delhi: The central government appointed six new Governors while reshuffling seven others Sunday. This comes in the wake of President Droupadi Murmu accepting the resignations of Bhagat Singh Koshyari as Governor of Maharashtra and Radha Krishnan Mathur as the Lt. Governor of Ladakh.
Mathur has been replaced by B.D. Mishra, the Arunachal Pradesh Governor while Koshyari, who ruffled many feathers during his tenure as Maharashtra Governor, has been replaced by Jharkhand Governor Ramesh Bais. Maharashtra is a crucial state for the BJP where the party won 48 seats in alliance with the then Shiv Sena in 2019 and it wanted a relatively calm person who does not create controversies at election time. Party sources told ThePrint the BJP does not want an aggressive person in a state under its rule.
In January, Koshyari had expressed desire before Prime Minister Narendra Modi to step down from his post after frequent run-ins with the former Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government in the state.
Apart from Mishra and Bais, some other Governors have been reshuffled. These are: Andhra Pradesh Governor Biswa Bhusan Harichandan has been appointed as Governor of Chhattisgarh; Chhattisgarh Governor Anusuiya Uikye has been appointed as Governor of Manipur; Manipur Governor La. Ganesan has been appointed as Governor of Nagaland; Bihar Governor Phagu Chauhan has been appointed as Governor of Meghalaya; and Himachal Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar appointed as Governor of Bihar.
According to the communique from the Press Information Bureau, veteran BJP leader and Leader of Opposition in Rajasthan Assembly, Gulab Chand Kataria has been appointed the new Assam Governor. A CM aspirant, Kataria’s appointment comes ahead of the assembly election in Rajasthan slated later this year.
Two leaders from Uttar Pradesh, Lakshman Prasad Acharya, who is a Member of Legislative Council in the state and Rajya Sabha MP Shiv Pratap Shukla, a tribal and a Brahmin respectively, have also been handpicked with an eye on the Lok Sabha elections next year.
Senior leader and former Tamil Nadu MP, C.P. Radha Krishnan, has been appointed Jharkhand Governor while retired judge, Justice S. Abdul Nazeer, who hails from poll-bound Karnataka, has been appointed as Andhra Pradesh Governor where the BJP is trying to get a foothold. Nazeer was the lone minority community judge on the bench that pronounced the Ram Janmabhoomi verdict.
Retired Lt. General Kaiwalya Trivikram Parnaik has been appointed Arunachal Pradesh Governor. The decorated soldier has years of experience in the N-E, which explains his current appointment.
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Here’s a closer look at the new appointees
Gulab Chand Kataria
Picking Kataria as the Assam Governor is a politically significant move. One, he will be replaced by an aggressive face as Leader of Opposition (LoP) to counter Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot and two, the party is keeping focus on the state, which goes to polls later this year. A senior BJP leader told ThePrint that Kataria was picked to keep the momentum high in Udaipur region, which is the leader’s stronghold. This, the leader said, was also done to get the state unit riddled with factionalism, in order. Kataria was one of the detractors of former CM and senior party leader Vasundhara Raje although he served as the Home Minister in both the Raje governments of 2004 and 2014-2018.
Also, by appointing a leader from south Rajasthan, the BJP has tried to send out the message that the region, where it won 15 out of 28 seats in the 2018 assembly election, is important for it, said another party leader to ThePrint.
Kataria, who was called by the Prime Minister two days ago, told ThePrint that though the call was to enquire about the situation in Rajasthan, a “new role” was hinted at.
Another senior BJP leader told ThePrint that “the party needs to infuse energy in Rajasthan, and promote young new faces.” Kataria, 79, was the LoP in the state assembly and his appointment as Governor has led to speculation about who will be appointed the new LOP. Raje, and deputy LoP Rajendra Rathore are the frontrunners to the post.
Lakshman Prasad Acharya
Acharya is an MLC hails from Varanasi . He belongs to the Kharwar tribe and served as the Kashi prant president when Prime Minister Modi first contested the Varanasi Lok Sabha election in 2014. He was groomed by OBC leader Omprakash Singh in his initial days.
He has served twice as the Kashi prant president during the tenures of Laxmi Kant Vajpyee and Keshav Prasad Mourya as party’s UP president. He shares a good rapport with the PM. He has served on the fisheries board when Kalyan Singh was the UP chief minister and went on to become first the district chief, then the regional president, and presently, is the party vice-president in UP.
Acharya has been part of the PM’s team which looks after his Parliamentery seat of Varanasi.
A senior UP BJP leader told ThePrint that “Acharya’s background as a humble party worker has been rewarded. When the party focusing on tribal outreach, choosing a tribal from UP ahead of 2024 Lok Sabha elections, which will be crucial for the BJP, is not merely symbolic but also shows how the party is balancing caste and rewarding a party worker. Acharya’s tribe, Kharwar, is crucial in 11 districts of UP – ranging from Kushinagar, Sonbhadra to Lakhimpur Kheri.
Another party leader said, “His appointment will give impetus to the northeast state of Assam where tribals are in majority. It is also expected to help the BJP in poll bound Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya.
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Shiv Pratap Shukla
Shukla, a former Union minister of Finance, hails from Gorakhpur region. He also served as the state’s Minister of Rural Development during Rajnath Singh’s tenure as UP Chief Minister. He is a four-time MLA from Gorakhpur and a Rajya Sabha member at present. This Brahmin leader was picked for the Union Cabinet in 2014. Shukla’s appointment as the Himachal Pradesh Governor is significant for both the states. The BJP recently lost in Himachal assembly elections and UP Lok Sabha elections are crucial for the party.
A senior BJP leader told ThePrint, “The party gave Shukla the charge of Brahmin outreach during UP assembly elections in 2022. Amit Shah made him chairman of the committee to look after Brahmin when reports of the community being upset with the BJP surfaced.”
Another leader told ThePrint that “choosing an anti-Yogi (Adityanath) man to reach out to Brahmins is significant as Shukla is known as an anti-math person. Yogi picked Radha Mohan Aggrawal as the Hindu Mahasabha candidate to defeat Shukla, a BJP candidate, in 2002 assembly elections. He continued to be sidelined in Gorakhpur politics under Yogi. His political asylum ended when he was picked as a minister in 2014. It is interesting how the BJP has compensated both Aggrawal, by making him a Rajya Sabha MP, and Shukla by appointing him as Governor, thus balancing both the Yogi and anti-Yogi Brahmin lobbies.”
C.P. Radha Krishnan
Krishnan, who has been appointed as Jharkhand Governor, was recently appointed as co-incharge of Kerala. He has previously served as the chairman of Coir Board whose headquarters are in Kerala. He has been an MP from Coimbatore and also the Tamil Nadu BJP president. He is a leader who has orchestrated BJP’s penetration in Tamil Nadu and has suitably been awarded as the party aims to expand its footprint in the state.
Starting from Jan Sangh, Krishnan won the Coimbatore seat in 1998 and 1999 Lok Sabha elections during the Atal Behari Vajpyee era. After the alliance broke with DMK and AIADMK, he lost the 2004 election by a narrow margin. He went on to lose in 2009, 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls despite the Modi wave. But since Tamil Nadu is in high priority, the BJP has picked one of its senior-most leaders as Governor.
His appointment is also an indication to a freer hand to BJP state unit chief K. Annamalai. According to party sources, Radha Krishnan was not too happy with Annamalai who may be fielded from Coimbatore in the next Lok Sabha elections.
Justice Abdul Nazeer
Justice Nazeer, the only judge from the minority community who was a part of the five-member Supreme Court bench in the Ayodhya case, is the new Andhra Pradesh Governor. He hails from Karnataka, and being a member of the minority community, fits into the central government’s narrative of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas. Karnataka has a significant minority population. Justice Nazeer has significantly been a part of many historic judgments like that on Triple talaq, the Ayodhya case, Aadhaar case, and demonetisation.
Lt General Parnaik
He was posted in the strategically important and sensitive northern command as General Officer commanding in chief in 2011. Himself a cadet from the National Defence Academy (NDA), his three generations have served the Army. He has served during the Kargil war and in the infantry brigade of J&K. He has experience of serving in the N-E.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)
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