Jagdeep Dhankhar takes oath as West Bengal Governor

Jagdeep Dhankhar took oath on Tuesday as the new Governor of West Bengal at a function at the Raj Bhavan here.

Calcutta High Court Chief Justice T.B.N. Radhakrishnan administered the oath to the 78-year-old Dhankhar in the presence of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, state ministers and Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee.

Dhankhar replaced Keshari Nath Tripathi, who completed his five-year tenure on July 23.

The new Governor is also a noted Supreme Court advocate.

Born May 18, 1951, in Kithana village of Rajasthan's Jhunjhunu district, Dhankhar served as Lok Sabha member from 1989 to 1991.

He was Union Deputy Minister for Parliamentary Affairs in 1990 during the prime ministerial tenure of V.P. Singh.

Dhankar, known for his closeness to Union Home minister and BJP President Amit Shah, comes to West Bengal at a time when the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government is at loggerheads with Banerjee's Trinamool Congress regime in the eastern state over a host of issues including law and order.

The Centre has shot off a number of advisories to the state government in recent times, triggering verbal duels in Parliament as also outside between the BJP and the Trinamool Congress leaders. IANS