Former Intelligence Bureau officer and former Tamil Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi was sworn in as the Governor of West Bengal on Thursday.
The swearing-in ceremony took place at Lok Bhavan (formerly Raj Bhavan) in Kolkata at around 11:30 a.m. The oath of office was administered by Calcutta High Court Chief Justice Sujoy Paul.
Several dignitaries attended the ceremony, including West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Assembly Speaker Biman Bandopadhyay, and Left Front Chairman Biman Bose.
However, Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari was not present at the ceremony despite being invited. No representative from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) attended the event.
R.N. Ravi succeeds C.V. Ananda Bose, who resigned from the post on March 5. Ravi’s appointment as the new Governor was announced the same evening.
Ravi arrived in Kolkata on Wednesday, while Bose left for his hometown in Kerala later that evening. Before departing, Bose shared an emotional message for the people of West Bengal through an open letter posted on the official social media handle of Lok Bhavan, stating that his emotional bond with the state and its people would remain strong.
Ravi becomes the second former Intelligence Bureau officer to serve as Governor of West Bengal in the past one and a half decades.
Earlier, former Intelligence Bureau chief and former National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan had taken oath as the Governor of the state ahead of the 2011 Assembly elections, which ended the 34-year-long Left Front rule and brought the Trinamool Congress government led by Mamata Banerjee to power.
Ravi’s appointment comes at a time when West Bengal is heading toward Assembly elections later this year.
-IANS
