Union Minister Thawarchand Gehlot appointed as Karnataka Governor

Bengaluru, 06 July 2021 [Fik/News Sources]: Amid buzz of Union Cabinet expansion, the President appointed eight new governors on Tuesday. The major reshuffle ahead of the expected Cabinet expansion saw the appointment of Union Minister Thawarchand Gehlot as the Karnataka Governor.

While Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Thawarchand Gehlot was appointed as the Governor of Karnataka, Bandaru Dattatreya was sent to Haryana.

Hari Babu Kambhampati will take over as the Governor of Mizoram. Mangubhai Chaganbhai Patel was appointed as the Governor of Madhya Pradesh.

Rajendran Vishwanath Arlekar was appointed as the Governor of Himachal Pradesh and PS Sreedharan Pillai moved to Goa.

Meanwhile, Satyadev Narayan Arya was appointed as the Governor of Tripura and Ramesh Bais was given charge of Jharkhand.

The appointments have come ahead of the expansion of PM Modi’s cabinet, which is expected this week.

Sources have told India Today that it would be a major reshuffle that may see the induction of over 20 new ministers in the cabinet.

The sources said that besides the poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, big states such as Maharashtra and West Bengal, which recently went to the polls, may see greater representation in the Union cabinet.

“It is not going to be a minor arrangement, but a major reshuffle,” sources told India Today on Tuesday. The sources added claimed that some ministers might lose their ministerial berths.
If the prime minister goes ahead with the exercise this week, he will be expanding his Council of Minis

ters for the first time since assuming the charge in May 2019 for the second term.

The current strength of the Council of Ministers is 53, excluding PM Modi. Its maximum strength can be 81.