4 new governors named, picks underline BJP focus on elections

NEW DELHI: President Droupadi Murmu on Monday appointed four new governors - Sudha Yadav of Karnataka, Dhal Singh Bisen of Uttarakhand, Dushyant Gautam of Sikkim and Braj Mohan Ram of Odisha.While Yadav, who hails from Haryana, and Bisen, who is from the agriculturist Bhoyar Pawar caste from MP, belong to the OBC category, both Gautam (Jatav) and Ram (Dhobi) are from SC community, underlining BJP's focus on two demographics which are crucial voting segments in many states, including in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh.Yadav, also a member of BJP parliamentary board , entered politics after her husband, BSF deputy commandant Sukhbir Yadav, was killed in the 1999 Kargil War.The other three appointees are former BJP MPs.The preference for Dalits and OBCs is in line with party's push since 2014 to consolidate the support it has gained among communities which were not part of its core base until PM Narendra Modi's emergence as its mascot. The choices come before assembly elections in party's strongholds of UP and Uttarakhand. Early on, party had fielded a diverse slate of candidates for Rajya Sabha polls from UP, with the coveted berths going to, apart from upper castes, OBCs and SCs.Meanwhile, according to an official communication, Keralam governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar was shifted to Tamil Nadu, and Sikkim's Om Prakash Mathur will take charge in Keralam.