New Delhi, June 16
Former Union Ministers R L Bhatia and Balram Jakhar will be the new Governors of Kerala and Madhya Pradesh respectively.
According to a Rashtrapati Bhavan communique, the appointments will take effect from the dates the new Governors assume charge.
Mr Jakhar, 81, a former Lok Sabha Speaker, who lost the recent Parliamentary election from Churu in Rajasthan, succeeds Mr R P Gupta, who died in May. Mr Jakhar was Agriculture Minister in the Narasimha Rao government.
Mr Bhatia, 83, a former Minister of State for External Affairs, who lost the Lok Sabha election from Amritsar, succeeds Mr Sikandar Bakht, who expired in February. Mr Bhatia was a member of the two-member AICC team that went into reasons for Congress debacle in the recent Lok Sabha elections in Kerala.
Congress sources said Mr Jakhar was more keen on a Rajya Sabha nomination but was finally persuaded to accept the post of Governor.
Today’s appointment of Governors, the first since the Manmohan Singh government assumed office, is expected to be followed with more names being announced in the next few days.
NDA appointed governors and senior BJP leaders R P Gupta and Sikander Bakht died while in office.
