President Pratibha Patil on Saturday appointed former SPG chief B.V. Wanchoo governor of Goa while Uttarakhand governor Margaret Alva has been transferred and appointed governor of Rajasthan for the remainder of her term. A new face, Dr Aziz Qureshi, has taken over charge from Ms Alva in Uttarakhand. The terms of the governors of Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra have been extended.
The President’s assent came after the Union home ministry sent the list, vetted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, to the President’s office on Saturday evening. Dr Qureshi is a former minister in the Madhya Pradesh government who headed the Urdu University Committee constituted by the Central government in 1992. He is also a former member of Parliament.
The President has given E.S.L. Narasimhan and K. Sankaranarayanan fresh terms as the governors of Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, respectively. E.S.L. Narasimhan has been holding charge as Andhra Pradesh governor since January 22, 2010 while K. Sankaranarayanan has been governor of Maharashtra since January 2010.
Former SPG chief B.V. Wanchoo takes over the governorship of Goa from Maharashtra governor K. Sankaranarayanan who had been holding additional charge of Goa since September 8, 2011.
Mr Wanchoo, a 1976 batch IPS officer from the West Bengal cadre, was a joint director with the Intelligence Bureau when he was chosen by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to head the SPG in 2004.