BJP veterans named governors in five states

New Delhi, July 14 (IANS) Five BJP veterans were Monday named governors of Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Gujarat and Nagaland.

A Rashtrapati Bhavan communique identified them as Ram Naik (Uttar Pradesh), Balramji Dass Tandon (Chhattisgarh), Keshari Nath Tripathi (West Bengal), Om Prakash Kohli (Gujarat) and Padmanabha Balakrishna Acharya (Nagaland).

Kohli is a former Delhi BJP chief, Naik is a former petroleum minister, Tandon once headed the Punjab BJP and was a cabinet minister in the state, and Tripathi is a former Uttar Pradesh assembly speaker.

An official communique said the appointments of Naik, Tandon, Tripathi and Kohli "will take effect from the dates (they) assume charge of their offices".

A separate communique said Acharya, a BJP leader, has also been asked to discharge the functions of the governor of Tripura, where incumbent Vakkom Purushothaman has resigned.

The appointments follow the resignations of governors B.L. Joshi (Uttar Pradesh), Shekhar Dutt (Chhattisgarh), M.K. Narayanan (West Bengal) and Ashwani Kumar (Nagaland) and the transfer of Kamala Beniwal from Gujarat to Mizoram.