Former Union Minister Najma Heptulla appointed Manipur Governor

New Delhi: Former Union Minister Najma Heptulla was on Thursday made Governor of Manipur while ex-Rajya Sabha MP V P Singh Badnore goes to Punjab in new gubernatorial appointments announced for four states with all of them being associated with the BJP.

Banwarilal Purohit, a three-time former member of Lok Sabha from Nagpur and Managing Editor of Central India's daily 'The Hitavada', will be the Governor of Assam while Delhi-based BJP leader and former MLA Prof Jagdish Mukhi was made Lt Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, according to a Rashtrapati Bhavan communique.

Heptulla, 76, had last month resigned as Minority Affairs Minister from Union Cabinet.

The resignation had come as Prime Minister Narendra Modi is believed to have set an unwritten writ of '75-year age bar' for ministers and had kept veterans like L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi out of the Cabinet and co-opted them in 'Margdarshak Mandal'.

Meghalaya Governor V Shanmuganathan was holding the additional charge as Manipur Governor.

68-year-old Badnore, who hails from Rajasthan, will be the new Governor of Punjab, the communique said. Haryana Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki was holding additional charge of Punjab, which goes to polls next year, after Shivraj Patil's term ended last year.

Nagaland Governor Padmanabha Balakrishna Acharya was holding additional charge as Assam Governor, a post which will now be assumed by 76-year-old Purohit.

Professor Jagdish Mukhi, who has been Member of Delhi Legislative Assembly from Janakpuri constituency, has been appointed as Lt Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the communique said.

73-year-old Mukhi has been appointed in place of Lt General (Retd) A K Singh, it said.