Mumbai, Jul 31 (IANS): Veteran politician CP Radhakrishnan was sworn-in as the 21st Governor of Maharashtra since the state’s formation in 1960, at the Raj Bhavan in Mumbai, here on Wednesday, officials said.

He was administered the oath of office and secrecy by the Bombay High Court Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya at a glittering ceremony attended by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy CMs Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar, other ministers and top civil and police officials.

Appointed in place of former Governor Ramesh Bais, the new Governor was accorded a Guard of Honour by the Indian Navy.

Earlier, he was the Governor of Jharkhand for nearly 18 months before he was posted to Maharashtra, and has also held additional gubernatorial charge of Telangana and as Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry for brief periods.

Born on May 4, 1957 at Tiruppur in Tamil Nadu, Radhakrishnan is a graduate in business administration, with a rich political experience of over four decades in his home state.

Starting with the RSS, he went onto become the state executive committee member of the Bharatiya Jan Sangh, the predecessor of the BJP, in 1974.

He became the TN BJP Secretary in 1996 and was first elected to the Lok Sabha from Coimbatore in 1998 and again in 1999, and has served on various committees of the Parliament.

He addressed the UN General Assembly as part of a parliamentary delegation in 2004 to New York, and from 2004-2007 he served as the TN BJP President.

At that time, he undertook a major 19,000 km-long Rath Yatra for various public and social causes, like the garlanding of rivers project, ending terrorism, a Uniform Civil Code in the country, the drug menace and eradicating untouchability, etc.

After holding various party and official positions, Radhakrishnan was appointed as Jharkhand Governor in February 2023, and has now taken over as Maharashtra Governor.