Opinion : BJP Veterans as New Governors

Narendra Modi government has completed two months in office­. One of the major steps that his government has taken is the appointment of the new Governors of West Bengal, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Chhatisgarh and Nagaland. Earlier Uttar Pradesh Governor BL Joshi, Goa Governor BV Wanchoo, Nagaland Governor Ashwini Kumar, Karnataka Governor HR Bhardwaj, West Bengal Governor MK Narayanan and Chhattisgarh Governor Shekhar Dutt resigned after the BJP government came to power at the Centre.

Keshari Nath Tripathi was born on 10 November 1934 at Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh and is the new Governor of West Bengal after the resignation of MK Narayanan.
Tripathi was a five-time MLA and also practiced as a Senior Advocate at Allahabad High Court. Besides all, he is an author and a poet and has published several books. He has written books like Commentary on “The Representation of the People Act, 1951” and two poetic books in Hindi – 'Manonukriti', 'Aayu Pankh'. In his student life, he went to jail in connection with the Kashmir Movement.

Ram Naik was born in Atpadi, in Sangli district of Maharashtra. He is a senior BJP leader, former Union minister, three-time parliamentarian and the only minister who completed five years as petroleum and natural gas minister in one government. Ram Naik will be the new Governor of Uttar Pradesh.

Balram Das Tandon was the founder member of Jan Sangh in 1951, and is the new Governor of Chhatisgarh after Shekhar Dutt tendered his resignation on June 18. Tandon was the deputy chief minister of Punjab in 1969.
A six time MLA, Tandon was critical of Prakash Singh Badal government's decision in 2012 of providing free electricity to state farmers.

Padmanabha Balakrishna Acharya, a senior Sangh Parivar leader and a member of working group on north east region of BJP. He is also the co-convener of overseas friends of BJP. Shri Acharya hails from coastal district of Udupi and is the new Governor of Nagaland. He is appointed after the resignation of Vakkom Purushothaman.

Om Prakash Kohli was a Rajya Sabha member from 1994 to 2000 and former chief of BJP's Delhi unit in 2009. Kohli has been associated with BJP since his student days and was president of its student wing ABVP and later became chief of Delhi University Teacher Association. He is the new Governor of Gujarat after Kamla Beniwal was shifted to Mizoram. —Nishant Kumar Azad