Apart from Raju, President of India Droupadi Murmu has also appointed former Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Kavindar Gupta as Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh. Gupta, who has also served as Speaker of the J&K Assembly in the past, replaces Brig (Retd.) BD Mishra who resigned from his post. Ashim Kr Ghosh, a veteran BJP leader and former chief of party’s West Bengal unit, will be Governor of Haryana.
Ashok Gajpathi Raju, 74, hails from the royal family of Vizianagaram in Andhra Pradesh. Apart from his stint as civil aviation minister in the Modi government from May 2014 to March 2018, Raju has also been a minister in Andhra Pradesh from September 1999 to May 2004, holding important portfolios like Finance, Excise, Legislative Affairs and Revenue.
Allies are usually interested in ministerial posts and the appointment of Raju as a governor is an exception.
Like the NDA-I government, the civil aviation ministry is with TDP in the present dispensation as well with K Ram Mohan Naidu occupying the minister’s post.
The appointment of Gupta as LG is also a deviation from the norm as he hails from the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir of which Ladakh was a part before August 5, 2019 when Article 370 was abrogated and it was turned into a union territory. As per convention, the Governor is from another state. The political situation in Ladakh has changed since 2019 and BJP has faced opposition from the people on a host of issues. BJP had also lost the Ladakh Lok Sabha seat in 2024.Professor Ashim Kumar Ghosh is a veteran BJP leader from West Bengal. He held the post of state unit chief from 1999 to 2002. He will replace Bandaru Dattatreya who is leaving before completing five years. He became Haryana Governor in July 2021. BJP is serving its third term in the state.
