Chennai, March 12 Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar was sworn in as the Governor of Tamil Nadu on Thursday in a simple ceremony held here at the Lok Bhavan.
Upon arrival at the Bharathiar Mandapam of Lok Bhavan, Arlekar was warmly welcomed by Chief Minister M K Stalin and Chief Justice of the Madras High Court, Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari.
Arlekar, who is also the current Governor of Kerala, is the 27th Governor of Tamil Nadu.
Chief Secretary N Muruganandam read out the warrant of appointment and Justice Dharmadhikari administered the oath of office.
Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker M Appavu, State Ministers including K N Nehru, EV Velu, PK Sekar Babu and S Regupathy, Union Minister of State L Murugan, and top officials were present.
Heads of the Armed Forces establishments in Chennai, senior officers of the Central and State governments, and BJP leaders like Nainar Nagendran and Tamilisai Soundararajan were also present. The Governor's wife, Anagha Arlekar, was also present.
Stalin introduced his council of ministers to the Governor. Arlekar was accorded a ceremonial guard of honour by the Tamil Nadu police.
Seventy-one-year-old Arlekar hails from Goa and from 2003 to 2007, he was the State President of the BJP in Goa. An ex-MLA, he had also served as the Speaker of the Goa Legislative Assembly from 2012 to 2017. He was also a former Minister for Forest and Environment and Panchayati Raj in Goa. Arlekar has also served as the ex-Governor of Himachal Pradesh and Bihar.
The Governor's predecessor, RN Ravi, had been in constant disagreement with the ruling DMK government. On March 12, Ravi was sworn in as the Governor of West Bengal, which is heading for elections.