Satya Pal...

Chief minister Mehbooba Mufti’s demands that a suspension of operations by government forces be extended despite unease among her then partners at the BJP was one of the immediate triggers for the government’s collapse. New Bihar governor Tandon is a former Uttar Pradesh cabinet minister who was close to Vajpayee. He represented Lucknow, Vajpayee’s parliamentary constituency, after the former prime minister retired from active politics.

Arya has replaced Kaptan Singh Solanki. An eight-time legislator from Bihar’s Rajgir, Arya also served as a minister in the Nitish Kumar-led government in 2010.

All the three new governors – Tandon, Maurya and Arya – have been associated with the BJP. The appointments of Maurya and Arya are being seen as part of the BJP’S attempts to reach out to the larger Dalit community.

With the exit of Vohra and Paul, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana governor ESL Narasimhan is now the only governor appointed by the previous UPA government. Three north-eastern states – Tripura, Meghalaya and Sikkim – too got new governors. Haryana governor Solanki replaces Tathagata Roy in Tripura. Solanki is a leader with a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) background and was appointed a Rajya Sabha member from Madhya Pradesh in 2009. Roy, a former president of West Bengal BJP, has been appointed as Meghalaya governor. He will replace Ganga Prasad. A veteran BJP politician from Bihar, Prasad has been named as Sikkim governor.