President Ram Nath Kovind, on July 6, Tuesday appointed eight new governors for states, including Karnataka. While many governors were transferred between states, some are new appointments. Among the new appointees, there is also a sitting member of the Union cabinet. Thaawarchand Gehlot, who currently serves as the Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment, has been appointed as the Governor of Karnataka. With this, Governor Vajubhai Vala, who is currently holding the position since September 2014, will demit his office.

Sitting Lok Sabha MP for Visakhapatnam Hari Babu Kambhampati has been appointed as Governor of Mizoram. PS Sreedharan Pillai, currently the Governor of Mizoram, has been transferred and appointed as Governor of Goa. Gujarat BJP leader Mangubhai Chhaganbhai Patel has been appointed as Governor of Madhya Pradesh. Former Speaker of Goa Assembly Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar has been positioned as Governor of Himachal Pradesh.

Satyadev Narayan Arya, the Governor of Haryana, has been transferred and appointed as Governor of Tripura. Ramesh Bais, the Governor of Tripura, has been transferred and appointed as Governor of Jharkhand; while Bandaru Dattatraya, Governor of Himachal Pradesh, has been transferred and appointed as Governor of Haryana.

The appointments will take effect from the dates they assume charge of their respective offices, said the office of the President.

These appointments by the President - based on the recommendation of the Union government - come even as a reshuffle of the Union cabinet is also being speculated. PTI had reported that deliberations for the same had already started as early as June 11. So far, there has been no such cabinet reshuffle in the Union government since PM Modi took office for the second time in 2019. A similar reshuffle is also likely to take place in Uttar Pradesh with the state slated to go to the polls in 2022.