Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar takes oath as Kerala governor

Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar took the oath as the 23rd Governor of Kerala at a function held at Raj Bhavan in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday. Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court, Justice Nitin Jamdar, administered the oath at 10.30 am.

Arlekar succeeds Arif Mohammed Khan, who was transferred to serve as the Governor of Bihar. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Chief Secretary Sharada Muraleedharan, Chief Justice Jamdar, and Additional Chief Secretary for General Administration K R Jyothilal welcomed the newly appointed Governor and his wife, Anagha Arlekar, to the stage.

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Subsequently, the Chief Secretary read out the President's order appointing the Governor. The oath-taking ceremony followed thereafter.

Dignitaries, including the West Bengal Governor, C V Ananda Bose, Assembly Speaker A N Shamseer, Ministers K N Balagopal, P Rajeeve, Roshi Augustine, K Krishnankutty, Kadannappally Ramachandran, V Sivankutty, G R Anil, Muhammad Riyas, Opposition Leader V D Satheesan, and MPs Shashi Tharoor and A A Rahim, attended the event.

Later in the evening, the Governor and his family members paid obeisance at the Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple here.
The temple authorities welcomed him with the famous Onavillu, a photograph of Lord Padmanabha, and a calendar.'

Arlekar arrived in Kerala's capital on Wednesday evening and was welcomed at the international airport by Chief Minister Vijayan, Speaker Shamseer, and ministers K Rajan and Ramachandran Kadannappally.

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Last week, the President of India, Draupadi Murmu, appointed Khan as the new Governor of Bihar and made the outgoing Governor, Arlekar, the Governor of Kerala.