President Droupadi Murmu on July 14 appointed senior Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader and former Union Minister Pusapati Ashok Gajapathi Raju as the Governor of Goa. The announcement was made along with the appointment of Professor Ashim Kumar Ghosh as the Governor of Haryana and Kavinder Gupta as the Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh.
Ashok Gajapathi Raju, a veteran political figure from Andhra Pradesh, has a long and distinguished career spanning over four decades. He hails from the erstwhile royal family of Vizianagaram.
Ashok Gajapathi Raju began his political journey in 1978, when he was first elected to the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly, a position he went on to hold for seven consecutive terms till 2014.
During this long legislative tenure, he held several key cabinet portfolios in the state government. From 1983 to 1985, he served as Cabinet Minister for Commercial Taxes, followed by a term as Cabinet Minister for Excise between 1985 and 1989. He later held the position of Cabinet Minister for Commercial Taxes, Finance, and Legislative Affairs from 1994 to 1999, and subsequently served as Minister for Revenue in the Andhra Pradesh Government from 1999 to 2004.
In the national political arena, Ashok Gajapathi Raju was elected to the 16th Lok Sabha in May 2014 and was soon inducted into the Union Cabinet as Minister for Civil Aviation, a post he held from 27 May 2014 to 10 March 2018. Following his ministerial tenure, he continued his legislative responsibilities as a Member of the Standing Committee on Home Affairs from 1 September 2018 onwards.
Born on June 26, 1951, he is the son of the late Dr. P.V.G. Raju, the Maharaja of Vizianagaram.
His wife, Sunila Gajapathi Raju, served as the Chairperson of the Vizianagaram Municipality, while their daughter Aditi Gajapathi Raju was elected as an MLA in the 2024 Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections.
