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 his 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 appointment warrant 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 senior officials were present.
Heads of the Armed Forces establishments in Chennai, senior officers of the Central and State governments, and BJP leaders 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 honor by the Tamil Nadu police.
Seventy-one-year-old Arlekar hails from Goa, and during 2003-2007, he was the Goa State President of the BJP. He was a former MLA and had 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 was also the former 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 towards elections.