New Punjab Governor VP Singh Badnore with Sushma Swaraj.
VP Singh Badnore today took oath as the new Punjab Governor and also as the Administrator of Chandigarh here.
Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice SJ Vazifdar administered the oath of office and secrecy to Badnore at Punjab Raj Bhawan in Chandigarh.
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal congratulated Badnore for becoming Punjab Governor and Administrator of UT Chandigarh.
Mr Badnore, 69, replaces Kaptan Singh Solanki, who is the Governor of Haryana and was holding additional charge of Punjab Governor and Administrator of Chandigarh Administration since January 2015.
Mr Badnore, who belongs to Bhilwara, was a four-time BJP legislator in the Rajasthan assembly. He was an lawmaker from 1977-80, 1985-90, 1993-98 and 1998-99. During his last term as lawmaker, he was the state Irrigation minister.
He was a member of the 13th and 14th Lok Sabha from 1999-2004 and from 2004-09.
In July 2010, he was elected to the Rajya Sabha. A graduate in business management, he studied at Mayo College, Ajmer, and Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI), Hyderabad.
Rajya Sabha records describe Badnore as an agriculturist, environmentalist, social worker, and sportsman.
He was the chairman of the special task force to rehabilitate tigers in Sariska (Rajasthan) from 2005-09 and a member of the empowered committee of forests and wildlife management in Rajasthan.
He is a widely travelled parliamentarian. He was a part of the Indian delegations to Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, Canada, in 1994 and in 2004 besides the Indian delegation of South Asia Free Media Association (SAFMA) to Pakistan.
A keen swimmer, he participated in national school-level swimming competitions