The government today announced new governors for seven states.
National Security Advisor M K Narayanan has been appointed governor of West Bengal, a job he is expected to do “excellently”. West Bengal is facing an Assembly election next year and it is widely expected that it will lead to an end to the Left Front’s dominance of the state.
Former home minister Shivraj Patil will be the new Punjab governor, also ruled by an opposition party. In Punjab, excessive interference in the affairs of the government and the Union Territory of Chandigarh had earned the outgoing Governor, Gen SF Rodrigues, public criticsm. Former defence secretary Shekhar Dutt has been chosen for Chhattisgarh, from where ESL Narasimhan moves to the Andhra Pradesh. Both appointments are significant. Dutt has been deputy national security advisor and understands Left extremism. Narasimhan will have to use the skills he acquired in the Intelligence Bureau to deflect the Telangana movement and support the new chief minister, K Rosiah.
Senior Congress leader Mohsina Kidwai will be the new governor of Jharkhand, from where K Sankaranarayan is being shifted to Maharashtra. Kidwai’s departure from the Congress, where she was general secretary, is expected to bring an organisational reshuffle.
Himachal Pradesh Governor Prabha Rau is being moved to Rajasthan. Senior Congress leader from Gujarat and former Union minister Urmilaben Patel has been sent to Himachal Pradesh.
Patel is the widow of former Gujarat chief minister Chimanbhai Patel and mother of Gujarat Congress President Siddharth Patel. She came into electoral limelight when she contested the Jamnagar Lok Sabha seat in 1991. Having been defeated by the BJP by a huge margin, she was given a Rajya Sabha seat. She was appointed minister of state for power in 1995. Patel was not re-elected to the Rajya Sabha after her term ended, but was given a ticket to contest the Vadodara Lok Sabha seat in 1999. However, she was again defeated by the BJP candidate, this time Jayaben Thakkar. She was special invitee to the Congress Working Committee after the 1990s. Her son Siddharth Patel, an MLA from the Dabhoi constituency, became the Gujarat Congress chief in July 2008.
| GUBERNATORIAL CHANGES |
| New appointments |
| Former national security adviser, MK Narayanan: To West Bengal |
| Former general-secretary of the Congress, Mohsina Kidwai: To Jharkhand |
| Former home minister, Shivraj patil: To Punjab |
| Urmilaben Patel: To Himachal Pradesh |
| Former defence Secretary, Shekhar Dutt: To Chhattisgarh |
| Movements |
| E S L Narasimhan: From Chhattisgarh to Andhra Pradesh |
| K Sankaranarayan: From Jharkhand to Maharashtra. |
| Prabha Rau: From Himachal Pradesh to Rajasthan |
