Former Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya will take oath as the Governor of Himachal Pradesh on September 5. The senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader told reporters in Hyderabad on Monday that he will leave for Himachal Pradesh on September 4 and will take oath as Governor the next day.
He was speaking after performing 'puja' at the famous Ganesh idol at Khariratabad in the city. The 61-feet idol is the tallest among the idols installed in both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
One of the new Governors appointed for five states by the Centre on Sunday, Dattatreya thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah for reposing confidence in him.
A local strongman, Dattatreya is a long-time loyalist of the BJP. He joined the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) in the 60s.
The 72-year-old was elected to Lok Sabha for four terms from Secunderabad constituency. He was first elected as an MP from Secunderabad in 1991 and went on to serve as the President of the Andhra BJP between 1996 and 1998. In 1998, he became an MP again and served as a Union Minister of State, Urban Development, in the Vajpayee government.
He was re-elected as an MP from Secunderabad in 2014, after two consecutive losses in 2004 and 2009. He was allotted the portfolio of Union Minister of State (Independent Charge), Labour and Employment in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet, but was removed from the post in September 2017, before he completed his full term.
Dattatreya, who was dropped from the ministry, was also denied a ticket in the recent elections.
Dattatreya is also an accused in the death of Rohith Vemula, a Dalit research scholar from the University of Hyderabad (UoH), who killed himself on campus in January 2016 alleging caste discrimination.
Read:
IANS inputs