Leh, July 18 (JKNS): Senior BJP leader Kavinder Gupta was sworn in as the new Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh on Friday, days after his appointment was approved by President Droupadi Murmu.
Details available with news agency JKNS, The oath of office was administered by Chief Justice of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court, Justice Arun Palli, during a ceremony at Ladakh Raj Niwas in Leh. Chief Secretary Pawan Kotwal read out the warrant of appointment.
Gupta becomes the third LG of Ladakh, succeeding Brigadier B D Mishra, who assumed office in February 2024. Prior to Mishra, the post was held by bureaucrat R K Mathur after the bifurcation of the erstwhile J&K state in 2019.
Gupta, 66, hails from the Janipur area of Jammu city and has held several key political positions over the years. He served as Deputy Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir in 2018 during the BJP-PDP coalition government.
He holds the distinction of being elected Mayor of Jammu three times between 2005 and 2010, a record tenure at the municipal level.
Gupta was also the General Secretary of BJP’s J&K unit and led the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) in the region from 1993 to 1998 for two consecutive terms.
He made his legislative debut in 2014 after defeating Congress leader and then-minister Raman Bhalla from the Gandhi Nagar constituency, following which he was elected Speaker of the J&K Assembly.
Gupta also served as Secretary of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and was jailed for nearly 13 months during the Emergency period due to his affiliation with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). (JKNS)
