Former IPS officer Kiran Bedi on Sunday assumed charge as the 23rd Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry. Senior judge of the Madras High Court Justice Huluvadi G Ramesh administered the oath of office and secrecy to Bedi at Raj Nivas.
66-year-old Bedi is the 4th woman Lt Governor of the Union Territory, a post which was under the additional charge of Lt Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Island for nearly two years.
Chief Secretary to Puducherry government Manoj Parida earlier read out the her warrant of appointment issued by President Pranab Mukherjee. Chief Minister designate V Narayanasamy, former Chief Ministers N Rangasamy, R V Janakiraman and M D R Ramachandran, PCC president A Namassivayam, elected legislators, Member of Lok Sabha Radhakrishnan, N Gokulakrishnan (Rajya Sabha), French Consul General Philippe Janvier Kamiyama and former Ministers were among those who witnessed the ceremony.
The LG’s post in the Union territory had been lying vacant after the Narendra Modi Government removed UPA nominee Virendra Kataria on July 12 barely a year after he had been appointed. Lt Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Island Lt Gen Ajay Singh had been given additional charge of Puducherry.
Bedi, the country’s first woman IPS officer, had led the BJP campaign in the 2015 Delhi Assembly elections but had to face the worst defeat in her maiden political innings with Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP winning 67 of the 70 seats.