New Delhi/Aug, 6: In overnight developments, the President of India has appointed senior BJP leader and former Minister of State Manoj Sinha Lt-Governor of Jammu and Kashmir in place of G C Murmu, who resigned on Wednesday.
An early morning Rashtrapati Bhavan communique on Thursday said: “The President has accepted the resignation of Girish Chandra Murmu as Lieutenant-Governor of Jammu and Kashmir.” It also announced that “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.”
Sinha has thrice been Lok Sabha MP from Ghazipur in eastern Uttar Pradesh. He was defeated by BSP’s Afzal Ansari in last year’s Lok Sabha elections. Sinha has also been junior railways minister.
The developments started last evening when Jamp;K was in the midst of mulling over the first anniversary of the August 5 decisions of revocation of Article 370 and bifurcation of the state of Jamp;K into two Union Territories of Ladakh and Jamp;K.
Murmu, a 1985-batch IAS officer of Gujarat cadre, was appointed as the first L-G of Jammu and Kashmir last October after the formation of the new Union Territory under the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019. He is expected to get an appointment at the Centre.
The two Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh came into existence on October 31 after the Narendra Modi government abrogated provisions of Article 370 that granted a special status to Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated the state into two UT
