Ahead of Union Cabinet reshuffle, Bandaru Dattatreya appointed Haryana governor, Rajendran Arlekar that of Himachal

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 6

Ahead of the much-anticipated Union Cabinet reshuffle, eight states on Tuesday got new governors with President Ram Nath Kovind making new appointments.

Social Justice Minister Thawarchand Gehlot has been appointed the governor of Karnataka, with the sector to get a new minister.

A communique from the President’s office said.

Read also: PM Modi's Cabinet expansion on Wednesday

PS Sreedharan Pillai, Governor of Mizoram, has been appointed Governor of Goa while Bandaru Dattatreya, the Governor of Himachal Pradesh, would now be the Governor of Haryana.

Satyadev Narayan Arya, Governor of Haryana, has been appointed Governor of Tripura and Ramesh Bais, Governor of Tripura, has been appointed as Governor of Jharkhand.

Dr Hari Babu Kambhampati will be the Governor of Mizoram, Mangubhai Chhaganbhai Patel the Governor of Madhya Pradesh and Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar the Governor of Himachal Pradesh.

“The above appointments will take effect from the dates they assume charge of their respective offices,” Ajay Kumar Singh, Press Secretary to the President, said.

While four new governors have been appointed, four have been transferred to other states.

The appointments signal an early cabinet reshuffle, probably as early as this week, with contenders for cabinet berths, including Sushil Modi, Maharashtra leader Narayan Rane, former Assam CM Sarbanand Sonowal, Jyotiraditya Scindia, JDU’s Lallan Singh and BJP Matua MP Shantanu Thakur.

Sources said among probables are BJP stalwart Bhupendra Yadav, UP leaders Rita Bahuguna and Zafar Islam; Anil Baluni and Ajay Bhat from Uttarakhand, Pratap Simha from Karnataka; Brijendra Singh from Haryana, Meenakshi Lekhi from Delhi.

“These names are doing the rounds,” a source said.

A high-level meeting is expected to be held on Tuesday evening to take a final call on Union Cabinet entrants.

PM Narendra Modi is expected to chair the meeting.

The Union Cabinet has 53 ministers. It can have 81.

Hari Babu Kambhampati, the new governor of Mizoram, is a BJP leader from Andhra Pradesh and was a member of the 16th Lok Sabha.

Mangubhai Chhaganbhai Patel, appointed Governor of Madhya Pradesh, is a former five-time MLA and ex-minister in Gujarat.

Rajendra Arlekar, the Governor of Himachal Pradesh, is a BJP leader from Goa.