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28 July 2024
The Raj Bhawan in Ranchi is gearing up not only to accord red carpet welcome to the incumbent Governor Santosh Kumar Gangwar, but provide heart felt farewell to C.P. Radhakrishnan who has been appointed as Governor of Maharashtra.
Governor C.P. Radhakrishnan, who took charge of the state on February 18, 2023 and as such served the state efficiently for less than one and half years, is going to be succeeded by Santosh Kumar Gangwar who knows how to weather challenges and controversies.
Notably, he had served as MoS in the finance ministry when the tricky demonetisation and goods and services tax (GST) were implemented.
Almost 76 - year old Santosh Kumar Gangwar, born on November1, 1948),has many claims to fame. He was jailed during the Emergency for guiding a people's movement against the then Government of UP.
He served as a member of the Uttar Pradesh State BJP Working Committee and held the position of General Secretary of the Uttar Pradesh BJP Unit in 1996.
Gangwar,who is B. Sc. and LLB from Agra University and the Rohilkhand University in Uttar Pradesh respectively, was elected for the first time to the 9th Lok Sabha in 1989 from the Bareilly constituency. He represented that Bareilly continuously until 2009 as a BJP Member of Parliament.
He represented this LS constituency for six successive terms. He has held also ministerial posts in the Government of India.He was Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas with the additional charge of Parliament Affairs in 13th Lok Sabha.
Prior to this, Gangwar was Minister of State of Science and Technology with the additional charge of Parliamentary Affairs during BJP led by PM Atal Behari Vajpayee government during October and November 1999.
Historically, Gangwar had forayed into national politics in the year 1989, when he got elected from Bareilly in the 9th Lok Sabha on a BJP ticket. In 1996, Gangwar became the General Secretary of the BJP's Uttar Pradesh unit.
Enquiry revealed that in April 2018 Gangwar had stirred controversy by saying that "one should not make a big deal" about rape in a country as large as India. The statements followed two incidents where BJP leaders were implicated in violent sexual assault of minors.
