Visakhapatnam/Hyderabad: President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday appointed senior BJP leader and former Visakhapatnam MP Dr Kambhampati Haribabu as Mizoram Governor. Currently, he is the second person from the Telugu-speaking states to occupy the gubernatorial position.
Bandaru Dattatreya from Telangana state was appointed Himachal Pradesh Governor on September 11, 2019. On Tuesday, as part of a minor reshuffle of Governors, the Centre transferred Dattatreya to Himachal Pradesh’s neighbouring state Haryana.
“I thank President Ram Nath Kovind, Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and home minister Amit Shah for choosing me for this position. The north-eastern state of Mizoram has its own peculiar issues and opportunities. I worked as a party incharge of Assam, but could not visit Mizoram. I will understand the situation in Mizoram and I will strive to develop Mizoram in coordination with the state government,” he said while talking to the media.
The appointment of Dr Haribabu as Governor would cap his over two-decade-long active political participation.
Born in Prakasam district, Dr Haribabu pursued his BTech, ME (electrical and control systems) and obtained a PhD from Andhra University, Visakhapatnam. He worked as associate professor at Andhra University College of Engineering for 24 years.
He resigned from the university to take part in active politics. He was elected MLA from the Vizag-I constituency in 1999 and became the BJP’s floor leader in the AP assembly in 2003. He served as a Vizag MP between 2014 and 2019.
Active in student politics, Haribabu became secretary of the students’ union of Andhra University College of Engineering in 1972-73. He participated in the ‘Jai Andhra’ movement’ in the state alongside Tenneti Viswanadham, Sardar Gouthu Latchanna and the present vice-president M Venkaiah Naidu.
He was arrested under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) during the Emergency and imprisoned for six months in Visakhapatnam central jail and the Mushirabad jail.
Haribabu defeated former mayor and Congress candidate Sabbam Hari to win the Visakhapatnam-1 Assembly constituency in the 1999 elections and defeated high-profile YSRC candidate Y.S. Vijayalakshmi, mother of Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy in the 2014 elections for Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha seat by a margin of 90,488 votes.
