Former Union minister Manoj Sinha was on Thursday, August 6, appointed lieutenant governor of Jammu and Kashmir.

A communique issued by Rashtrapati Bhavan said Girish Chandra Murmu's resignation as J&K lieutenant governor has been accepted.

The communique issued by the President's press secretary Ajay Kumar said 'the President has been pleased to appoint Shri Manoj Sinha to be the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir with effect from the date he assumes charge of his office.'

Sinha -- a senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader from Uttar Pradesh -- was born on July 1, 1959 in Mohanpura, Ghazipur district, eastern UP. His political career began when he was elected president of the Banaras Hindu University Students Union in 1982.

He was elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time in 1996 and re-elected in 1999.

Sinha was a member of the BJP national council from 1989 to 1996.

Elected to the Lok Sabha for a third term in 2014, he was appointed minister of state for railways in Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi's ministry and later held independent charge of the ministry of communication.