In reshuffle, 8 governors appointed: Raj Bhavan boost to SC, ST, OBC as many from community get gubernatorial role

Amid the buzz of a Union Cabinet expansion, eight governors were appointed in a reshuffle on Tuesday, the Rashtrapati Bhavan announced.

Union Minister Thaawarchand Gehlot was appointed as Karnataka Governor and Mangubhai Chhaganbhai Patel was named as the Governor of Madhya Pradesh. Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel was previously holding an additional charge of Madhya Pradesh.

President Ram Nath Kovind has approved the appointments of Hari Babu Kambhampati and Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar as Governors of Mizoram and Himachal Pradesh respectively, it said.

BJP leader from Andhra Pradesh Kambhampati succeeds P S Sreedharan Pillai, who has been transferred and appointed as Governor of Goa, the communique said.

Arlekar, BJP's leader from Goa and former Speaker, replaces Bandaru Dattatraya who has been transferred and appointed as Haryana Governor, it said.

Satyadev Narayan Arya, Governor of Haryana is transferred and appointed as Governor of Tripura, the statement said.

Tripura Governor Ramesh Bais has been transferred and appointed as Governor of Jharkhand, succeeding Droupadi Murmu, according to the communique.

These appointments will take effect from the dates they assume charge of their respective offices, it said.

With these appointments, there is now a record number of SC, ST and OBC Governors in the country. A substantial number of gubernatorial assignments have been given to those hailing from the SC communities.

Governors from SC communities

• Thaawarchand Gehlot, a former Cabinet minister, who will serve as the Governor of Karnataka.
• Rajendra Arlekar will now become Governor of Himachal Pradesh. He has represented Pernem in the Goa Assembly. He is also the first Goan to occupy the constitutional post.
• Satyadev Narayan Arya, who will take charge as the Governor of Tripura.
• Baby Rani Maurya is currently serving as Uttarakhand Governor.

Governors from Tribal communities

• Mangubhai Patel, who will now be Governor of Madhya Pradesh, is a long-standing leader of the tribal communities with years of political experience in Gujarat
• Anusuiya Uikey is serving as Governor of Chattisgarh

Governors from OBC communities

• Phagu Chauhan who belongs to the Lonia community is the Governor of Bihar.
• Ramesh Bais will now become the Governor of Jharkhand.
• Bandaru Dattatraya will be the Governor of Haryana after a stint in Himachal Pradesh.
• Ganga Prasad Chaurasiya is Governor of Sikkim.
• Tamilisai Soundararajan serves in Telangana with an additional charge of Puducherry.

On the other hand, three Jat leaders are currently serving as governors. It is for the first time perhaps in India’s history that there are three Governors belonging to the Jat community. While Jagdeep Dhankar is in the politically crucial state of West Bengal, Acharya Devvrat is the Gujarat Governor. Satyapal Malik is serving as the Meghalaya Governor.

Meanwhile from the Muslim community, Arif Mohammad Khan is the Governor of Kerala, and Najma Heptulla is the Governor of Manipur.

Also, with the appointment of K Hari Babu, along with Bandaru Dattatraya, the number of Telugu governors now stand at two.