In Points: Who is Banwarilal Purohit, the new Governor of Punjab

Banwarilal Purohit is made the new Governor of Punjab on Friday (August 27). Previously, V P Singh Badnore was serving as Punjab Governor and Administrator of Chandigarh.

Purohit has also been handed the additional charge of the Union Territory of Chandigarh.

“The President of India has been pleased to appoint Purohit, the Governor of Tamil Nadu, to discharge the functions of the Governor of Punjab, in addition to his own duties fromthe date he assumes charge of the office of the Governor of Punjab until regular arrangements are made,” stated an official notification.

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• Punjab’s new governor, Mr Purohit will assume office from August 29, 2021.

• Purohit is married to Pushpa Devi Purohit and has two sons- Rajendra Purohit and Rakesh Purohit and a daughter Meena Purohit Joshi

• He also serves as the chairman of Nagpur's Bhavan Bhagwandas Purohit Vidya Mandir. He is the Chairman of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan schools, which were established in 1938 by lateKanaiyalal Maneklal Munshi.

• Mr Purohit was appointed as Governor of Tamil Nadu on September 30, 2017, and assumed office on October 6.

• On August 17, 2016, the President of India appointed him as Governor of Assam State. 

• Purohit, a veteran politician from Maharashtra's Vidarbha district, served in the Lok Sabha three times from the Nagpur constituency.

• In 1977, he began his political career, and in 1979 and 1980, he was elected to the Maharashtra Assembly on a Congress ticket. He was elected twice as a member of Congress in 1984and 1989.

• He left Congress to join BJP, however, made comeback to congress in 1999 as he developed serious differences with Pramod Mahajan.

• He was caught in a high-profile controversy in 2007 after he claimed that he had arranged an hour-long meeting between then-RSS chief Balasaheb Deoras and then-Prime Minister RajivGandhi in 1989. He said Gandhi had made a secret agreement with the RSS to allow Shilanyas and the construction of the Ram temple at Ayodhya in exchange for RSS support in the 1989 elections.