New Delhi: The NDA government is mulling a fresh round of appointments to gubernatorial posts in nine states, five of them ruled by the Congress, as incumbent governors are holding additional charge of multiple states.
“Since some governors are holding additional charge of two-three states, new appointments are expected in the coming weeks,” official sources said. There are vacancies in Raj Bhavans in Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Manipur, all ruled by the Congress, while Opposition parties like the JD(U), Left and TRS are in power in Bihar, Tripura and Telangana, respectively.
The Raj Bhavan in Punjab, ruled by the Akali Dal-BJP combine, is also vacant.
In Puducherry, the lieutenant-governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lt. Gen. Ajay Kumar Singh (Retd), is holding additional charge as L-G. It may be noted that West Bengal governor Keshari Nath Tripathi is at present holding additional charge of Bihar, Meghalaya and Mizoram, while Nagaland governor Padmanabha Acharya is in charge of the Raj Bhavans in Assam and Tripura.
Haryana governor Kaptan Singh Solanki was recently given the additional charge of Punjab governor and administrator of Chandigarh, while Rajasthan governor Kalyan Singh holds additional charge of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand governor K.K. Paul was recently given the responsibility of the Raj Bhavan of Manipur too.
E.S.L. Narasimhan, who was the governor of undivided Andhra Pradesh, continues to be the governor of both Telangana and residuary Andhra Pradesh after the bifurcation.
The Narendra Modi government, which assumed charge in May 2014, has so far appointed governors to 11 states.
