Hyderabad, March 11 – Shiv Pratap Shukla was sworn in as the Governor of Telangana on Wednesday.
The Chief Justice of the Telangana High Court, Justice Aparesh Kumar, administered the oath of office to Shukla at a ceremony held at Raj Bhavan.
Shukla took the oath in Telugu, much to the surprise of everyone present.
Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, state ministers, Assembly Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar, and Legislative Council Chairman Gutha Sukhender Reddy attended the ceremony.
Former Himachal Pradesh Governor Bandaru Dattatreya, state Congress chief Mahesh Kumar Goud, state BJP president Ramchander Rao, Chief Secretary K Ramakrishna Rao, DGP B Shivadhar Reddy, and other top officials were also present.
With the Assembly Budget session scheduled to begin on March 16, the new Governor will address a joint session of both Houses on the same day.
Shukla arrived in Hyderabad on Tuesday. Chief Minister Revanth Reddy had received him at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA).
President Droupadi Murmu appointed Shukla as the Governor of Telangana last week.
Shukla, who is currently serving as the Governor of Himachal Pradesh, will succeed Jishnu Dev Varma, who has been appointed as the Governor of Maharashtra.
Varma assumed office as the Governor of Telangana on July 31, 2024.
Shukla is the fourth Governor of Telangana, which was created as a separate state in 2014.
He was sworn in as the Governor of Himachal Pradesh on February 18, 2023.
Born on April 1, 1952, in Rudrapur village of Gorakhpur district in Uttar Pradesh, Shukla was associated with Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) during his student days.
He joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 1983. He was elected from the Gorakhpur Nagar Assembly constituency for the first time in 1989. He was re-elected in 1991 and took over as a Minister of State with independent charge of the Basic Education, Adult Education, and Language Department in the government of Kalyan Singh, the Chief Minister of the first BJP government of Uttar Pradesh. He also took over the responsibility of the Horticulture Department, Sports, Youth Welfare, and Food Processing Department.
After being elected to the assembly for the fourth time in 1996, he served as a Cabinet Minister in the governments of Kalyan Singh, Ram Prakash Gupta, and Rajnath Singh, handling the portfolios of Prison, Law and Justice, and Rural Development.
In 2016, he was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh and in 2017, took over as a Minister of State for Finance in the Modi government at the Centre. He served as a Rajya Sabha member until July 4, 2022.