Shiv Pratap Shukla took oath as Governor of Telangana on Wednesday. Chief Justice of Telangana High Court, Justice Aparesh Kumar administered oath of office to Shukla at a ceremony held at Raj Bhavan. Shukla took the oath in Telugu, much to the surprise of all those present.
Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, state ministers, Assembly Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar, Legislative Council Chairman Gutha Sukhender Reddy attended the ceremony. Former Himachal Pradesh Governor Bandaru Dattatreya, state Congress chief Mahesh Kumar Goud, state BJP president Ramchander Rao, Chief Secretary K Ramakrishna Rao, DGP B Shivadhar Reddy and other top officials were also present.
With the Assembly Budget session scheduled to begin on March 16, the new Governor will address a joint sitting of both Houses on the same day. Shukla arrived in Hyderabad on Tuesday. Chief Minister Revanth Reddy had received him at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA).
President Droupadi Murmu last week appointed Shukla as the Governor of Telangana. Shukla, who is currently serving as Governor of Himachal Pradesh, will succeed Jishnu Dev Varma, who has been appointed as the Governor of Maharashtra. Varma had assumed charge as the Governor of Telangana on July 31, 2024.
Shukla is the fourth Governor of Telangana, which was carved out as a separate state in 2014. He was sworn in as the Governor of Himachal Pradesh on February 18, 2023. Born April 1, 1952 in Rudrapur village of Gorakhpur district in Uttar Pradesh, was associated with Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) in his student days.
He joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 1983. He was elected from Gorakhpur Nagar Assembly constituency for the first time in 1989. He was re-elected in the year 1991 and took the charge of Minister of State independent charge of Basic Education, Adult Education and Language Department in the government of Kalyan Singh, the Chief Minister of the first BJP government of Uttar Pradesh.
He also took over the responsibility of the Horticulture Department, Sports, Youth Welfare and Food Processing Department. After being elected to assembly for the fourth time in 1996, he discharged his duties as Cabinet Minister of Prison, Law and Justice and Rural Development Department in the governments of Kalyan Singh, Ram Prakash Gupta and Rajnath Singh.
In 2016, he was elected as a member of the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh and in 2017, took over the responsibility of the Minister of State for Finance in the Modi government at the Centre. He served as a Rajya Sabha member till July 4, 2022.