As per the latest reports from New Delhi, the Bharatiya Janata Party has finalized seasoned TDP leader and former Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju as the new governor of Goa state as a matter to fulfill the promise due to the key alliance between the two parties both at the centre and the state. He will replace PS Sreedharan Pillai soon to chair the gubernatorial post.

Ashok Gajapathi Raju has a long standing political career and served as a state minister during the TDP government. He is one of the fewest old guards in TDP and has been with Chandrababu Naidu since the inception of the party. In 2014, he won as Member of Parliament from Vizianagaram constituency and was inducted into Modi’s cabinet as Minister for Civil Aviation. In 2019, he lost from the same constituency and thereafter turned inactive as her daughter took over his political legacy. He didn’t contest in 2024 elections and hardly took part in any political activities due to age factor.

TDP president Chandrababu Naidu has been lobbying with the BJP to nominate Ashok Gajapathi Raju as a governor due to the latter’s unblemished political career and his decades administrative and legislative experience. The party high command has considered both Ashok Gajapathi Raju and Yanamala Ramakrishnudu as recommendations for the governor post. Finally, Ashok was finalized by the Central Government.

Kavinder Gupta, former Deputy Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, has been appointed as the new Lieutenant governor of Ladakh and Prof. Ashim Kumar Ghosh, an academic and political thinker, has been named as the new Governor of Haryana. According to the official statement from Rashtrapati Bhavan, all appointments will take effect from from the dates the respective appointees assume charge of their offices. The formal oath-taking ceremonies will take place very soon.