Kerala Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar has been shifted to Tamil Nadu and Sikkim Governor Om Prakash Mathur to Kerala, according to a Rashtrapati Bhavan communique. Senior BJP leaders Dushyant Gautam, Sudha Yadav, Dhal Singh Bisen and Braj Mohan Ram have been named governors of Sikkim, Karnataka, Uttarakhand and Odisha, respectively.
President Droupadi Murmu approved the appointment of four new governors, while shifting two. (File Photo: PTI)
New Delhi,Oct 13, 2026 08:25 IST
President Droupadi Murmu on Monday appointed six governors, shifting Kerala Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar to Tamil Nadu and Sikkim Governor Om Prakash Mathur to Kerala, according to a Rashtrapati Bhavan communique.
The President also approved the appointment of four new governors. Senior BJP leaders Dushyant Gautam, Sudha Yadav, Dhal Singh Bisen and Braj Mohan Ram have been named governors of Sikkim, Karnataka, Uttarakhand and Odisha, respectively. The communique said all appointments will take effect from the dates they assume charge of their offices.
Arlekar, who was sworn in as Kerala Governor on January 2, 2025, had also been holding additional charge of Tamil Nadu since March 12 this year. Mathur, who was appointed Sikkim Governor on July 27, 2024, will now take over in Kerala in place of Arlekar.
The four new appointees are veteran BJP leaders from Other Backward Classes and Scheduled Caste communities, with long experience in grassroots politics, elections and legislatures across heartland states. They have served in different roles in the party for more than 25 to 45 years and are described as senior "BJP karyakartas".
Gautam, a Dalit leader from Delhi, has been appointed Sikkim Governor in place of Mathur. He has spent nearly five decades in organisational work in the RSS and BJP, and in efforts for the uplift of Scheduled Castes. Gautam has served as BJP national general secretary and national president of the party's Scheduled Caste Morcha, and rose from being a councillor in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi to becoming a Rajya Sabha member. Sources said his appointment recognises a grassroots leader and his contribution to public life.
Yadav, an OBC leader from the Yadav community in Haryana, has been appointed Karnataka Governor. She succeeds Thaawarchand Gehlot, who had been in office since July 11, 2021. The widow of BSF deputy commandant Sukhbir Singh Yadav, who was martyred in the Kargil War, she later represented Mahendragarh in the Lok Sabha and serves on the BJP Parliamentary Board, sources said. She is the second woman to hold the position after the late Sushma Swaraj. Yadav has an MSc and a PhD in chemistry from IIT Roorkee and was a member of the National Commission for Backward Classes from 2019 to 2022. Sources said her appointment honours Haryana's tradition of national service, the OBC community and the sacrifice of families of fallen personnel.
Bisen, an OBC leader from the Bhoyar Pawar community in Madhya Pradesh, has been appointed Uttarakhand Governor. He succeeds Lt General Gurmit Singh, who assumed office on September 15, 2021. A four-time MLA and former MP from Balaghat, Bisen has served as a state Cabinet minister and handled portfolios including school education, forest, transport and mines. An Ayurveda practitioner by profession, he has a deep interest in Indian systems of medicine and their convergence with modern medicine, sources said. They added that his appointment recognises his five decades of service in the BJP and his record in public life.
Senior BJP leader Braj Mohan Ram from Jharkhand has been appointed Odisha Governor. Ram, 68, a Dalit leader and former Lok Sabha member from Palamu, will succeed Hari Babu Kambhampati. From a farming family, he went on to serve as an MLA in undivided Bihar and was elected to the Lok Sabha from Palamu in 1996, 1998 and 1999. He has also served as in-charge of the State Scheduled Caste Morcha and Dhobi Mahasangh, and worked towards setting up educational institutions in Chandwa in Jharkhand. Sources said his appointment recognises his legislative and social service over the decades.
With these changes, Arlekar moves to Tamil Nadu, Mathur shifts to Kerala, and Gautam, Yadav, Bisen and Ram will take charge in Sikkim, Karnataka, Uttarakhand and Odisha, respectively, once they assume office.
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With inputs from PTI