Former Union Minister Manoj Sinha appointed new Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir

After Satyapal Malik, who was governor of erstwhile J&K state, Sinha is the new political touch to the Valley.
Former Union Minister and senior BJP leader Manoj Sinha (Photo | Shekhar Yadav, EPS)
Former Union Minister and senior BJP leader Manoj Sinha (Photo | Shekhar Yadav, EPS)

NEW DELHI: Former Union Minister and BJP leader Manoj Sinha became the second Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday, replacing ex-IAS officer Girish Chandra Murmu who resigned on Wednesday.

President Ram Nath Kovind's office confirmed the development on Thursday and issued a statement that said, “The President has been pleased to appoint Shri Manoj Sinha, to be the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir with effect from the date he assumes charge of his office vice Shri Girish Chandra Murmu.”

President Kovind has accepted Murmu’s resignation as the L-G of the Union Territory, the statement added.

Sources said that the move to appoint Sinha as the next Lieutenant Governor is signalled at reaching out to the people of the union territory with a soft political touch, something that Murmu, a former bureaucrat, was unable to achieve during his nine-month tenure.

After Satyapal Malik, who was governor of erstwhile J&K state, Sinha is the new political touch to the Valley - both Malik and Sinha are grassroots politicians. Sinha lost the last Lok Sabha election to strongman and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate Afzal Ansari.

Sinha has represented the parliamentary constituency of Ghazipur in eastern Uttar Pradesh thrice in the Lok Sabha. He has also served as minister of communications and minister of state for Railways. Sinha was elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time in 1999. 

After the comfortable win of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Uttar Pradesh in 2017, Sinha’s name was among the contenders for the post of Chief Minister. He eventually lost the post to Yogi Adityanath, a five-time MP from Gorakhpur.

Murmu’s comments on the restoration of 4G internet services in the UT against the wishes of the Narendra Modi government, dysfunction at the top with J&K Chief Secretary BVR Subrahmanyam – who is known to enjoy the confidence of Home Minister Amit Shah and the need for a political leader are learnt to be reasons for replacing Murmu as J&K L-G.

There is buzz that Murmu will be given an important government assignment in Delhi and that he could be made the next Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India taking over from Rajiv Mehrishi, who is retiring by the end of this week.  Mehrishi, who held the post of the Home Secretary of India back in 2015, took over as the CAG on 25 September 2017.

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