Shimla, Sep 11 (UNI) Bandaru Dattatraya, a former union minister and senior BJP leader, took the oath of 27th Governor of Himachal Pradesh, here on Wednesday.
Mr Dattatraya, replaced Kalraj Mishra, who was appointed as the Governor of Rajasthan.
In grand but simple swearing in ceremony held at Rajbhavan here, Himachal Pradesh High Court Judge Justice Dharam Chand Chaudhary administrated the oath of office and secrecy to the new Governor .
The ceremony was attended by Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, members of his cabinet, former chief ministers Virbhadra Singh,Prem Kumar Dhumal, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy, Speaker of Himachal Pradesh Assembly Rajiv Bindal, chief secretary Dr Shrikant Baldi, Director General of Police S R Mardi, principal secretary to Chief Minister Sanjay Kundu, senior officials of the state government and various other dignitaries.
Before the appointment as Himachal Pradesh Governor, Mr Dattatreya was the Union Minister in Narendra Modi government.
Mr Dattatreya, is a long-time loyalist of the BJP, as he joined the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) in the 60s.
The 72-year-old was elected to Lok Sabha for four terms from Secunderabad constituency. He was first elected as an MP from Secunderabad in 1991 and went on to serve as the president of the Andhra BJP between 1996 and 1998. In 1998, he became an MP again and served as a Union Minister of State and Urban Development in the Vajpayee government.
He was re-elected as an MP from Secunderabad in 2014, after two consecutive losses in 2004 and 2009. He was allotted the portfolio of Union Minister of State (Independent Charge), Labour and Employment in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet, but was removed from the post in September 2017,before he completed his full term.
Mr Dattatreya, who was dropped from the ministry, was also denied a ticket in the recent Lok Sabha elections.
His name also came forth as an accused in the death of Rohith Vemula, a Dalit research scholar from the University of Hyderabad (UoH), who killed himself on campus in January 2016 alleging caste discrimination followed by massive protest by the students belonging to many universities.
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