Biswa Bhusan Harichandan on Wednesday took oath as the Governor of Andhra Pradesh. Andhra Pradesh High Court's Acting Chief Justice C Praveen Kumar administered the oath to the new Governor at a ceremony held at the Raj Bhavan in Vijayawada.
Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, his cabinet colleagues and senior officials attended the ceremony.
Harichandan, a veteran leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and former minister of Odisha, is the first full-time Governor of Andhra Pradesh since the state's bifurcation in 2014.
The 84-year-old succeeded E.S.L. Narasimhan, who had been serving as Governor of undivided Andhra Pradesh since 2009 and then as Governor of both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana since bifurcation.
Narasimhan had been serving as the Governor of both the states from Hyderabad.
A government building in Vijayawada's Suryaraopeta, which earlier housed an office of the Irrigation Department and later, the Chief Minister's Camp Office for a brief period, has been turned into temporary Raj Bhavan.
The ground floor would be used for official work while the first floor of the building would be the Governor's residence.
A permanent Raj Bhavan may be built in the government office complex, for which foundation stone was laid in December 2018 by then chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.
However, with the YSRCP coming to power after the recent elections and its allegations of corruption in projects related to Amaravati, construction of the government complex is likely to be delayed.
Ahead of his swearing in, the Governor arrived in Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday and visited the Lord Venkateswara temple in Tirumala and offered prayers.