Jharkhand governor Ramesh Bai to take charge in Maharashtra, gets warm send-off in Opposition-ruled state

MUMBAI/RANCHI: Ramesh Bais, the Jharkhand governor whose nearly two-year tenure was marked by frequent run-ins with the Hemant Soren-led coalition government of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), Congress and RJD, is expected to take charge as Maharashtra governor after February 16.

In sharp contrast to the response that B S Koshyari's exit generated within the opposition in Maharashtra, news of Bais's departure from Jharkhand was marked by a congenial response from all sides.
A seven-time BJP MP and an erstwhile minister in the Atal Behari Vajpayee government, he takes over as governor of Maharashtra at a politically sensitive stage. Hours after being appointed to his new role, Bais drove down to the home of JMM president Shibu Soren and met him.
The junior Soren later tweeted, "I extend my hearty congratulations to Shri C P Radhakrishnan on behalf of Jharkhand's people on his appointment as the new governor of Jharkhand...Many congratulations to Bais for being appointed as the governor of Maharashtra."
JMM's ally, the Congress, issued a measured response. "Bais Ji maintained the dignity of the office and dispensed his duties. There were points where differences arose between him and the state government but that happens in any democracy. We wish him well in his new role," Jharkhand Congress president Rajesh Thakur told TOI.
During his tenure, Bais returned as many as six bills which the Soren government passed in the Jharkhand Vidhan Sabha. Among the prominent bills returned was an anti-lynching bill and another to define the locals of Jharkhand based on the land survey settlement records of 1932.
He also came under criticism from the ruling coalition during the office-of-profit case against the CM. In an interview to a news channel on October 27 last year, in Chhattisgarh, his home state, Bais had said he had sought a second opinion regarding the case and an "atom bomb" could explode in Jharkhand soon. The EC denied Bais's claims. Bais had also drawn criticism from the government when he summoned the Jharkhand DGP after a communal clash in Ranchi last June, in which two died. JMM had then accused him of meddling in the state's administrative affairs.