President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday appointed Bihar Governor Satya Pal Malik as the governor of Jammu and Kashmir. Malik will replace NN Vohra, who has been the governor of the state since 2008.
In June, former Deputy Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Kavinder Gupta had said the Centre may appoint a new governor in the state after the Amarnath Yatra.
Jammu and Kashmir has been under Governor’s Rule since June 20 after the Bharatiya Janata Party ended its coalition government with former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti’s Peoples Democratic Party, allegedly because of security concerns and rising terrorism in the state.
Malik, who was the BJP’s national vice president, was the governor of Bihar since September. Senior BJP leader Lalji Tandon will replace Malik as the governor of Bihar, ANI reported. Tandon was a close aide of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Tandon said he will try to contribute towards the development of Bihar. “I’ll play the role of a guardian to the state govt [government],” he told ANI. “Nitish ji [Chief Minister Nitish Kumar] is an old friend of mine, I don’t think we’ll have any problems between us.”
Former Bihar minister Satyadev Narayan Arya has been appointed the governor of Haryana. Tathagata Roy, who was the governor of Tripura, has been transferred and appointed as the governor of Meghalaya, while Kaptan Singh Solanki, who was governor of Haryana has been transferred and appointed as governor of Tripura, News 18 reported.
Ganga Prasad, who was governor of Meghalaya, has been transferred and appointed governor of Sikkim, while Baby Rani Maurya was named the governor of Uttarakhand.
Lal Ji Tandon has been appointed as the Governor of Bihar. (File pic) pic.twitter.com/aRCtEVvnzX
— ANI (@ANI) August 21, 2018
