New Delhi : Padmanabha Balakrishna (PB) Acharya was appointed as the Governor of Nagaland Monday.

According to a Rashtrapati Bhavan communiqué, PB Acharya will also discharge the functions of the Governor of Tripura, in addition to his own duties, until regular arrangements for the office of the Governor of Tripura.

It has also been learnt that the President of India has also accepted the resignation of Vakkom Purushothaman, as Governor of Tripura. He was earlier appointed as governor of Nagaland.

Currently, Meghalaya Governor Dr. Krishna Kant Paul is looking after the office of the Governor of Nagaland following the resignation of Dr. Ashwani Kumar.

The appointment of PB Acharya followed Modi government’s move to put BJP veterans as governors in at least five states at the present.

Modi government named five BJP veterans as governors of Nagaland, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Gujarat.

Ram Naik has been appointed as the Governor of Uttar Pradesh; Balramji Dass Tandon as Governor of Chhattisgarh; Keshari Nath Tripathi as Governor of West Bengal and Om Prakash Kohli as Governor of Gujarat.

Kohli is a former Delhi BJP chief, Naik is a former petroleum minister, Tandon once headed the Punjab BJP and was a cabinet minister in the state, and Tripathi is a former Uttar Pradesh assembly speaker.

An official communiqué said the appointments of Naik, Tandon, Tripathi and Kohli “will take effect from the dates (they) assume charge of their offices.”
Acharya, a BJP leader familiar with the Northeast, has been asked to discharge the functions of the governor of Tripura, where incumbent Vakkom Purushothaman had resigned.

PB Acharya is a senior leader, having served Rashriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, and BJP. He happens to be the second person from coastal Karnataka to have been picked up for this gubernatorial post after Margaret Alva, and first ever from GSB community.