Chennamaneni Vidyasagar Rao, a veteran BJP leader from Telangana, was Saturday evening sworn-in as the new governor of Maharashtra.
The Bharatiya Janata Party leader was sworn in at a function at the Raj Bhavan following the resignation of K. Sankaranarayanan Aug 24.
Rao, 73, was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Bombay High Court Chief Justice Mohit Shah.
Present on the occasion were Rao's wife Vinoda, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, union ministers Nitin Gadkari and Anant Geete, Telangana BJP state president Kishan Reddy, Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra legislative council Vinod Tawde, several state ministers, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Naval Command Admiral Anil Chopra among others.
Later, Rao was accorded a ceremonial guard of honour by the Indian Navy.
He took charge from Gujarat Governor O.P. Kohli, who was holding additional charge of Maharashtra since the past one week.
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Rao, who hails from Telangana's Karimnagar, had earlier served as minister of state for home in the government under then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
After his schooling and early college from Hyderabad, Rao completed his BSc from Maharashtra and later studied law at Osmania University.
During his academic career, he was active with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad.
He practiced law before plunging into active politics and was elected thrice from Metpalli to the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh assembly in 1985, 1989 and 1994.
Rao was also elected twice to the Lok Sabha from Karimnagar, but lost the 2014 election from the same constituency.
During the Emergency in 1975, he was imprisoned under MISA for a year in the Warangal central jail.
Rao and his wife Vinoda have a daughter and two sons.