Former Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya was Thursday sworn in as the 18th Governor of Haryana, succeeding Satyadeo Narain Arya, who moved to Tripura.

Dattatreya was administered the oath of office by Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice Ravi Shankar Jha in a simple ceremony at the Raj Bhavan here.

The 74-year-old was Governor of Himachal Pradesh before being moved to Haryana in a recent reshuffle, while Arya was transferred to Tripura.

Punjab Governor VP Singh Badnore, who is also the Administrator of the Union Territory of Chandigarh, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, his deputy Dushyant Chautala and Home Minister Anil Vij were among those present on the occasion.

Dattatreya personally met the dignitaries who had come to attend the oath taking ceremony and accepted their greetings. During this, a special contingent of the Haryana Armed Police presented the guard of honor to the new Governor.

The Governor's wife and first lady of the state, Bandaru Vasantha, daughter Bandaru Vijayalakshmi and their family members and relatives were also present during the ceremony. Born on June 12, 1947 in Hyderabad, Dattatreya is a BSc graduate from Osmania University in the city.

Dattatreya, who has been a four-term MP, was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1991.

He was the Minister of State for Labour and Employment in the NDA government headed by Narendra Modi in 2014 and was also part of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee cabinet earlier.

From 2002 to 2003, he was the Union Minister of State for Railways and from 2003 to 2004, he held the charge of Union Minister of State for Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation (independent charge).

In the year 2019, he was appointed as the Governor of Himachal Pradesh.