Thawarchand Gehlot all set to be sworn-in as Governor of Karnataka on July 11

Bengaluru, July 09: Thawarchand Gehlot will be sworn-in as the 19th Governor of Karnataka on July 11, the state government said on Friday. Gehlot will be sworn-in as Governor of Karnataka on July 11 at 10:30 am, at the Glass House of Raj Bhavan, an official release from the state information department said.

The Chief Justice of the High Court of Karnataka Justice Abhay Srinivas Oka will be administering the Oath of Office and Secrecy to the new Governor on this occasion, it said. Gehlot, 73-year-old, who held the portfolio of Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment at the Centre, and was leader of the House in Rajya Sabha, will replace Vajubhai Vala, who has been the Governor of the southern state since 2014.

The President has announced the appointment of Gehlot as the new Governor of Karnataka on July 6. A Dalit leader, born on May 18, 1948 in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, Gehlot graduated from Vikram University in that town. He entered politics in 1962 through the Jan Sangh and had occupied several positions in BJP including its Parliamentary Board and Central Election Committee.

He is familiar with Karnataka as he served as the state in-charge for years between 2006 and 2014 when he was party general secretary. A three-term MLA in Madhya Pradesh, Gehlot served four terms as member of the Lok Sabha from Shajapur from 1996 to 2009. He lost the 2009 Lok Sabha elections and was sent to the Rajya Sabha in 2012.

Though 83-year-old Vala's five-year term had ended in August, 2019, he had continued in the post as his successor was not named by the centre. Politically, Vala came under attack in May 2018, for inviting the BJP to form the government much to the chagrin of the Congress-JD(S) coalition, which had termed his action as that of a "Gujarati businessman."

He was also targeted by Congress-JD(S) during HD Kumaraswamy's trust vote in July 2019, for repeatedly seeking to interfere with assembly proceedings, by setting deadlines.