Bengaluru, Oct 16: Sudha Yadav, a former Lok Sabha member from Haryana and a senior BJP leader, was sworn in as the new Governor of Karnataka at a ceremony at Lok Bhavan in Bengaluru on Friday.

Karnataka High Court Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru administered the oath of office and secrecy in the presence of Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara, outgoing Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot and other dignitaries.

Yadav was appointed by President Droupadi Murmu following the completion of Gehlot’s tenure. She is the second woman to serve as Karnataka Governor, after V S Ramadevi, who held the post from 1999 to 2002.

Kargil War widow

Yadav entered public life after her husband, Sukhbir Singh Yadav, a Deputy Commandant in the Border Security Force (BSF), was killed while fighting Pakistani forces during the 1999 Kargil War. He died during artillery attacks and was posthumously awarded the Sena Medal.

Following his death, she entered electoral politics and contested the Lok Sabha election from Mahendragarh in Haryana. She won the seat in 1999 and represented the constituency until 2004.

Academic background

Yadav holds an MSc and a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Roorkee, now the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee. She won a gold medal during her postgraduate studies.

Her academic background distinguishes her from many political appointees, while her experience in electoral politics and party organisation has established her position within the BJP.

Experience in politics and public life

Yadav has held several organisational positions in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), including serving as the party’s national in-charge of its Other Backward Classes (OBC) Morcha. She is considered a prominent OBC leader from Haryana.

She served as a member of the National Commission for Backward Classes from 2019 to 2022.

In 2022, she was inducted into the BJP Parliamentary Board, the party’s highest decision-making body. She became the second woman to serve on the board after former Union Minister Sushma Swaraj.

Her appointment as Karnataka Governor brings to the state a constitutional head with experience in parliamentary politics, party organisation and public service.

Other appointments in gubernatorial reshuffle

Yadav’s appointment was part of a broader reshuffle involving six states.

President Murmu appointed Dhal Singh Bisen as Governor of Uttarakhand, Braj Mohan Ram as Governor of Odisha and Dushyant Gautam as Governor of Sikkim.

Om Prakash Mathur, who was serving as Sikkim Governor, was appointed Governor of Kerala, while Kerala Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar was transferred to Tamil Nadu.

Bisen is a former Lok Sabha member from Balaghat in Madhya Pradesh and has served as an MLA and Cabinet Minister in the state government, handling portfolios including school education, forests, transport and mines.

Ram, a Dalit leader from the Dhobi community, represented Palamu in the Lok Sabha for three consecutive terms, winning elections in 1996, 1998 and 1999. He also served as an MLA in undivided Bihar.

Gautam is a former BJP national general secretary and former president of the party’s Scheduled Caste Morcha. He has also served as a councillor in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and as a Rajya Sabha member.

The appointments will take effect from the dates on which the respective appointees assume charge.