Vijayawada, Feb 22 (IANS): Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy gave a warm send-off to outgoing Governor Biswabhusan Harichandan and his wife at the Gannavaram airport here on Wednesday.

The outgoing Governor and his wife later flew to Raipur.

On February 12, the Centre appointed Harichandan as the governor of Chhattisgarh.

Housing Minister Jogi Ramesh, AP Agri Mission Vice Chairman MVS Nagi Reddy, Chief Secretary Dr K.S. Jawahar Reddy, DGP KV Rajendranath Reddy, Legislative Council Chairman K. Moshen Raju, senior officials and people's representatives accompanied the Chief Minister to the airport to see off the outgoing Governor and his wife.

Harichandan, a senior BJP leader from Odisha, had assumed office as governor in July 2019. He had succeeded E.S.L Narasimhan, who had been working as governor of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana after the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.

Former Supreme Court judge Justice S. Abdul Nazeer has been appointed as the new Governor of Andhra Pradesh.

Justice Nazeer, who hails from Karnataka, was on the Constitution bench of the Supreme Court that delivered verdict in Ayodhya case.

He had served as Karnataka High Court judge and was elevated as Supreme Court judge in 2017.

Justice Nazeer was also on the full bench that delivered the verdict on the triple talaq controversy. He was one of the two judges who opposed the majority verdict banning triple talaq.