Shillong, Oct 5 (IANS): Former Bihar politician Ganga Prasad was on Thursday sworn in as Governor of Meghalaya at the Raj Bhavan here.
Chief Justice of the Meghalaya High Court Dinesh Maheshwari administered the oath of office to Prasad at a brief ceremony attended by Chief Minister Mukul Sangma and most of his cabinet colleagues.
The former Bharatiya Janata Party leader from Bihar was appointed the northeastern state's new Governor on September 30.
Meghalaya was without a permanent Governor for nine months after V. Shanmuganathan resigned on January 26 following charges of inappropriate behaviour and hurting the decorum and prestige of the Raj Bhavan.
Banwarilal Purohit, the Assam Governor who will be now taking over as Tamil Nadu Governor, was holding additional charge after Shanmuganathan quit.
Shanmuganathan's resignation came after nearly 100 employees of the Raj Bhavan in Shillong sent a five-page letter to the Prime Minister's Office and Rashtrapati Bhavan, demanding recall of the Governor for what they alleged was "turning the Raj Bhavan into a Young Ladies Club".
The swearing-in ceremony was followed by a State Guard of Honour presented by Meghalaya Police at Raj Bhavan.
Prasad started his political career as a Jan Sangh member in 1967 and held various organisational posts in it as well as in the BJP. He had been part of BJP's national executive after Amit Shah took over as party President.
Prasad was first elected as Member of Legislative Council (MLC) in Bihar in 1994 and continued for 18 years till 2012.
He had also held the post of Leader of Opposition in the legislative council from 1997-98 to 2005 and then became the leader of the ruling combine in the legislative council from 2005 to 2012 under the first Nitish-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in Bihar.
One of his four sons, Sanjeev Chaurasia, is a BJP MLA from Digha constituency in Patna district.
Prasad is also the 'Pradhan', or chief, of Arya Samaj in Bihar and the chairman of Dadhichi Dehdaan Samiti, a Patna-based organisation for promoting voluntary organ donation. He heads the foodgrain dealers' association and Vaishya Mahasabha in Bihar.