Jaipur:
Om Prakash Mathur, who has been named the new Sikkim Governor, is a veteran BJP leader from Rajasthan who has also served as the party’s state president and a Rajya Sabha MP. A national vice-president of the BJP, Mr Mathur has now said he will retire from active politics now after his appointed to the Constitutional post.
The 72-year-old is from Bali in Rajasthan’s Pali district and has earlier served as a pracharak of the BJP’s ideological parent Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh. In politics, he was groomed by former Vice President and BJP leader Bhairon Singh Shekhawat. Mr Mathur has also been a general secretary in-charge of Gujarat BJP. Mr Mathur is considered a key organisational man and a strategist, and is considered one of the leaders behind the BJP’s return to power in Chhattisgarh last year. He has been seen as a Chief Minister probable in Rajasthan before the party chose Bhajanlal Sharma for the job.
The Rajasthan Chief Minister congratulated OP Mathur on the new role. “I firmly believe your able guidance and leadership will put Sikkim on the path of good governance and set new standards,” Mr Sharma said in a post on X.
As Mr Mathur takes over the Sikkim role, the outgoing Governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya has been given the role of Governor in Assam. He will hold the additional charge of Manipur.
President Droupadi Murmu has made several other appointments in the Governor’s role.
Gulab Chand Kataria, Governor of Assam, has been given the role in Punjab and also appointed Administrator of the Union Territory of Chandigarh.
Haribhau Kisanrao Bagde has been appointed Governor of Rajasthan, Jishnu Dev Varma of Telangana and Santosh Kumar Gangwar of Jharkhand. Raman Deka has been named Governor of Chhattisgarh and CH Vijayashankar of Meghalaya.
CP Radhakrishnan, Jharkhand Governor with Additional Charge of Telangana, has been appointed Governor of Maharashtra.
“The above appointments will take effect from the dates they assume charge of their respective offices,” an official release has said.