Published Mar 06, 2026 | 6:21 AM ⚊ Updated Mar 06, 2026 | 7:31 AM
Governors RN Ravi and Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar.
Synopsis: Kerala Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar will take additional charge as the Governor of Tamil Nadu, while RN Ravi has been transferred from Tamil Nadu to West Bengal, Rashtrapati Bhavan said on 5 March. The changes are part of a major reshuffle of Governors and Lieutenant Governors across several States and Union Territories, including three opposition-ruled States that are due to hold Assembly elections.
Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi has been transferred to West Bengal, while Kerala Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar has been assigned the additional responsibility of discharging the functions of the Governor of Tamil Nadu, Rashtrapati Bhavan confirmed late on Thursday night, 5 March.
Shiv Pratap Shukla, Governor of Himachal Pradesh, has also been appointed Governor of Telangana, while Jishnu Dev Varma, Governor of Telangana, has been transferred as Governor of Maharashtra.
The changes were announced as part of a major reshuffle of Governors and Lieutenant Governors across several States and Union Territories, including three opposition-ruled States that are due to hold Assembly elections in the coming months.
The President also accepted the resignation of CV Ananda Bose as Governor of West Bengal, who resigned suddenly on Thursday.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had earlier termed Governor RN Ravi’s appointment to West Bengal as shocking and said she was “deeply concerned”. She accused the Centre of not consulting her over the decision.
“Such actions undermine the spirit of the Constitution of India and strike at the very foundation of our federal structure,” she wrote in a post on X, saying the changes on the eve of Assembly polls could “serve certain political interests”.
Both RN Ravi and Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar have had confrontational relationships with state governments during their tenures as Governors of Tamil Nadu and Kerala respectively.
Between September 2021 and May 2022, Ravi withheld assent to 21 Bills passed by the State Assembly. Since 2023, he has also refused to complete, or at times deliver, the customary address at the start of the first session of the Legislative Assembly.
Similarly, Arlekar, who arrived in Kerala only a year ago to replace then Governor Arif Mohammad Khan, was expected to cool tensions between Raj Bhavan and the State government. But he began his tenure by rolling back a government decision on security on his first day.
Along with Ravi and Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot, he courted controversy earlier this year by omitting certain passages from the Cabinet-approved policy speech at the start of the Kerala Legislative Assembly.
(Edited by Dese Gowda)
