Former Minister Thawarchand Gehlot sworn in as new Karnataka Governor

Former union minister Thawarchand Gehlot on Sunday took oath as the 19th Governor of Karnataka at the Raj Bhavan in the presence of outgoing Governor Vajubhai Rudabhai Vala, Speaker of the Karnataka Assembly Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, his cabinet colleagues, MPs, MLAs, Chief Secretary P Ravi Kumar and senior officials of the state government. Karnataka High Court Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka administered the oath of office.

The appointment of the 73-year-old former Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment and leader of the House in Rajya Sabha was announced by the President on July 6. Gehlot was born in a Dalit family to Ramlal Gehlot and Suman Bai in Madhya Pradesh on May 18, 1948. He completed his Bachelors' from Vikram University. After being involved with the RSS, he took his plunge into politics for the first time in 1962 through the Jan Sangh. He competed in elections first in 1980 and was elected as MLA thrice before becoming a Lok Sabha member in 1996. He served as MP for four consecutive terms until 2009. He was also a Rajya Sabha member.

Additionally, he had also served as Karnataka state in-charge for years between 2006 and 2014 when he was party general secretary. Though previous Governor Vala's term came to an end in August 2019, he continued in the post as no successor was named. Vala had received large-scale backlash during his tenure as Governor for inviting the BJP to form the government despite not having the single largest majority in the assembly elections in May 2018. He was also accused of settling deadlines and interfering with assembly proceedings.