Former Union Minister Najma Heptulla will be the new Governor of Manipur while Union Territory Chandigarh may get a separate Administrator after a gap of 32 years.
The Centre on Wednesday also appointed Banwarilal Purohit, a BJP leader from Nagpur, as the new Governor of Assam, while ex-Rajya Sabha member VP Singh Badnore goes to Punjab and Delhi BJP leader Jagdish Mukhi was appointed lieutenant-Governor of Andaman Nicobar Islands in new gubernatorial appointments.
Former J&K top cop Farooq Khan was appointed as Administrator of lakshadweep, while KJ Alphonse was appointed Administrator of Chandigarh, according to a Rashtrapati Bhavan communiqué.
However, the moment the news of Alphonse’s appointment broke out in the media, there was wide ranging political debate in Punjab with almost all political parties in the poll-bound State opposing the move, including the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal. This forced the Centre to keep the appointment on hold, at least for the time being.
Heptulla, 76, had last month resigned as Minority Affairs Minister from the Union Cabinet.
The resignation had come as Prime Minister Narendra Modi is believed to have set an unwritten writ of ‘75-year age bar’ for Ministers.
Banwarilal Purohit, is a three-time former member of the lok Sabha from Nagpur and Managing Editor of Central India’s daily The Hitavada.
He was the lok Sabha MP of Congress in 1984 and 1989. He joined BJP, during the Ram Janmabhumi movement in 1991. He lost the election in 1991 and was elected to the lok Sabha again in 1996.
Badnore, 68, who hails from Rajasthan, will be the new Governor of Punjab, the communique said. Haryana Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki was holding additional charge of Punjab, which goes to polls next year, after Shivraj Patil's term ended last year.
Meghalaya Governor V Shanmuganathan was holding the additional charge as Manipur Governor. Nagaland Governor Padmanabha Balakrishna Acharya was holding additional charge as Assam Governor, a post which will now be assumed by 76-year-old Purohit.
Veteran BJP leader from Delhi, Professor Jagdish Mukhi, was MlA for several times from Janakpuri. Mukhi, 73, has been appointed in place of lt General (Retd) AK Singh.
Alphonse (63) known as ‘demolition man’ during his career as the head of the Delhi Development Authority, left IAS and joined politics in mid 90s. He was elected as MlA in Kerala with support of left parties and joined BJP in 2011.
Ex-IPS officer Khan, 63, belongs to Jammu and Kashmir and he joined BJP during the parliamentary elections.