N D Tiwari sworn in as AP Governor

Hyderabad, Aug 22: Senior Congresss leader N D Tiwari was sworn-in as Governor of Andhra Pradesh at an impressive ceremony in the lawns of the Raj Bhavan here today.

The former Uttarakhand Chief Minister was administered the oath of office by state Chief Justice G S Singhvi.

Eighty-two-year old Mr Tiwari succeeded Rameshwar Thakur, who was holding charge as Governor of Andhra Pradesh and Orissa before he was moved as Karnataka Governor in the recent shuffle of heads of states by the UPA Government.

State Chief Seceretary J Harinarayana read out the warrant of appointment by President Pratibha Patel on August 19.

Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and his cabinet colleagues including Finance Minister K Rosaiah, Information Minister A Ramanarayana Reddy and Irrigation Minister P Lakshmaiah, TDP leaders T Devender Goud, Y Ramakrishnudu, E Dayakar Rao and BJP State President B Datattreya, were among others who greeted the Governor on the occasion.

Leader of Opposition N Chandrababu Naidu, TRS Floor Leader K Vijayarama Rao, CPI Floor leader Ch Venkata Reddy, CPI(M) Floor leader N Narasimaiah, AIMIM Floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi, were absent on the occasion.

A full-time Governor was appointed to the state after a gap of 19 months when then Governor Sushil Kumar Shinde was inducted into the Union Cabinet as Power Minister.

Elected to the Uttar Pradesh Assembly five times, Mr Tiwari had also represented Nainital in the 13th Lok Sabha and served as Lok Sabha Public Accounts Committee Chairman for three years before he was sworn in as first elected Chief Minister of the newly-created Uttarakhand State.

A Postgraduate from Allahabad University and also a law graduate, Mr Tiwari had served as the Union Minister for Industry, External Affairs, Finance and Commerce.

The veteran Congress leader, who had been nominated member of the Congress Working Committee in 1993 and President of the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee in 1994, had floated AICC(T) party in 1997 before merging it with the Congress.

UNI