Rameshwar Thakur is new Karnataka Governor

The Federal Government has appointed Rameshwar Thakur as the new Governor of Karnataka in the place of T N Chaturvedi, who completed his five-year-term yesterday.

Rameshwar Thakur, who was the Governor of Orissa and held additional charge as Governor of Andhra Pradesh, will now hold the gubernatorial post in Karnataka for the remainder of his term till November 18, 2009.

The appointment of 80-year-old Thakur, a native of Bihar and a former Federal Minister, comes less than a month a half before the scheduled transfer of power from the JD (S) to the BJP in Karnataka on October 3.

According to information reaching here, Federal Home Minister Shivaraj Patil spoke to Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy over the phone before finalizing the name of Thakur for the Governor’s post.

The shifting of Thakur from Andhra Pradesh to Karnataka is part of the reshuffle of Governors in eights states of the country.

Thakur’s predecessor T N Chaturvedi, who had been appointed by the erstwhile BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on August 21, 2002, had not been disturbed by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA), which came to power in May 2004. The five-year term of T N Chaturvedi, who is an expert in parliamentary affairs and legislature procedure, remained non-controversial.