Who is Taranjit Singh Sandhu? Former envoy appointed Delhi LG

NEW DELHI/KOLKATA: Tamil Nadu governor R N Ravi has replaced C V Ananda Bose as the new governor of West Bengal, while former ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu will be the new Delhi L-G. The move to appoint Ravi as Bengal governor came under fire from CM Mamata Banerjee.

The appointment of Ravi, a former IPS officer who had frequent run-ins with the DMK govt, comes days ahead of the announcement of poll dates for Bengal and other states.


The changes are part of the larger gubernatorial reshuffle announced by Rashtrapati Bhavan on Thursday (see gfx). Bose, whose tenure was marked by confrontations with the Mamata-led TMC govt, announced his resignation from Delhi. He gave gave no reason for the decision. Mamata Banerjee was quick to target BJP, her main challenger in the assembly polls, as she expressed "shock and deep concern".

"The reasons behind his resignation are not known to me at this moment. However, given the prevailing circumstances, I would not be surprised if the governor has been subjected to some pressure from the Union home minister to serve certain political interests on the eve of the forthcoming state assembly elections," she wrote on X, sharing that home minister Amit Shah called her to say that Ravi will be replacing Bose.

Mamata said Shah did not consult her over the change of guard “as per established convention”. Ravi has been at odds with the Tamil Nadu govt over a host of issues and his expected transfer to Bengal assumes significance due to Mamata’s vehement protest against the EC’s SIR exercise in the state with polls set to be conducted with the new voters’ list.

The suddenness of Ananda Bose’s decision was borne out by the fact that a Raj Bhavan social media channel posted his key official engagements on Friday till a few hours before he made the announcement. The engagements included his “presence” at the “first-of-its-kind” Darjeeling Hill Festival, where President Droupadi Murmu would be chief guest.

The election-eve choice of Ravi as Bengal’s 24th governor also prompted the CM to claim that “such actions undermine the spirit of the Constitution of India and strike at the very foundation of our federal structure”. Ravi, known for his confrontations with the Stalin administration, will be stepping into Raj Bhavan just ahead of the assembly election. Bose, as many noted, had been lying low, uncharacteristically, for the last few months, avoiding any fresh tussle with the Bengal govt.

Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya said, “They (TMC) should stop whining on ethics and morality in a state where the assembly opposition leader has to move the high court 124 times just to hold public meetings.”

Raj Bhavan insiders gave a couple of “reasons” for Bose’s decision: ill health and frustration over not being allowed to work by the state administration. It was also becoming increasingly clear in Bengal’s political circles that Bose’s recent non-confrontational approach was not entirely to the liking of the local BJP brass. “He was stymied not by the state administration but by his own actions and inaction,” a BJP senior told TOI.