Ex-Union home secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla appointed new Manipur governor

Former Union home secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla was on Tuesday appointed as the new Manipur governor, the Rashtrapati Bhavan stated in its order.

Bhalla, a 1984 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre, will take over from Laxman Prasad Acharya, who was assigned additional charge of the violence-hit state.

Ajay Kumar Bhalla’s tenure as Union home secretary ended in August. He was appointed to the post in August 2019. Bhalla has had the longest tenure in the crucial post considered next to the country’s top bureaucrat — the cabinet secretary. He was succeeded by senior IAS officer Govind Mohan.

Ex-Army chief General Vijay Kumar Singh (retd) has been appointed as the new Mizoram governor. The former Union minister did not contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, after representing Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad in Lok Sabha from 2014 to 2024.

Kerala’s governor Arif Mohammed Khan is the new Bihar governor. Bihar Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar has been named the governor of Kerala in place of Khan.

Khan was appointed as the Kerala governor by then-President Ram Nath Kovind in 2019. He supported the Narendra Modi government’s move to ban instant triple talaq. Arif Mohammed Khan walked out of the Cabinet led by Rajiv Gandhi in 1986 over the Shah Bano case.

Mizoram Governor Hari Babu Kambhampati has been appointed Odisha Governor, the Rashtrapati Bhavan said.