New Delhi, March 11 Former diplomat Taranjit Singh Sandhu was sworn in as the 23rd Lieutenant Governor of Delhi in a ceremony held at Lok Niwas on Wednesday.
Delhi High Court Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya administered the oath of office and secrecy to Sandhu in the presence of Chief Minister Rekha Gupta and other dignitaries.
Speaking to reporters after the ceremony, Sandhu described Delhi as his 'Karmbhumi' (area of responsibility), noting that he attended college and university in the city before serving here as a foreign service officer.
"There are many stakeholders, and it is our collective duty to work together for the development of Delhi," he said.
He added that while the problems facing the capital are well known, there are no easy solutions, and all stakeholders will have to work together to address them.
The new Lieutenant Governor paid his tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat and offered prayers at the Rakabganj Gurudwara and Prachin Hanuman temple in Connaught Place. He succeeds Vinai Kumar Saxena, who has been appointed as the Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh.
A 1988-batch Indian Foreign Service officer, Sandhu was one of the most experienced Indian diplomats on United States affairs. He served in the Indian Mission in Washington, D.C., multiple times and was India's ambassador to the United States from February 2020 to January 2024.
The 63-year-old former diplomat had also been at the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations from July 2005 to February 2009.
He unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha polls in 2024 on the BJP ticket from the Amritsar constituency in Punjab.