Karnataka: Rameshwar Thakur takes charge as governor

Rameshwar Thakur took over as the 15th governor of Karnataka after being sworn in by Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court Cyriac Joseph.

Thakur was sworn in at the Glass House in Raj Bhavan in Bangalore.

Thakur who was governor of Orrisa replaces T N Chathurvedi who had been appointed by the National Democratic Alliance government.

Chathurvedi had completed five years in office. Thakur, who held additional charge as governor of Andhra Pradesh, will now hold the gubernatorial post in Karnataka for the remainder of his term till November 18, 2009.

The appointment of 80-year-old Thakur, a native of Bihar and a former Union minister, comes at a very interesting time.

There is a month remaining for the Janata Dal-Secular to hand over power to the Bharatiya Janata Party, its coalition partner.

The transfer of power is scheduled to take place on October 3.

Thakur is among the eight persons who was part of the reshuffle of governors in the country.

The President of India also appointed governors to the states of  Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Arunanchal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Sikkim.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy said he was shocked that the Centre had not even consulted him before appointing the new governor.

He said that it had become a practice for the Union governments to appoint governors without consulting the states.

Kumaraswamy said that the new appointment could be a coincidence as the time was crucial in Karnataka politics.