Santosh Gangwar expresses gratitude to PM Modi after appointment as Jharkhand governor

Bareilly (UP), Jul 28 (PTI) Former Union Minister Santosh Gangwar, appointed as Jharkhand governor, expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he will live up to the new responsibility.
     Gangwar was appointed governor of Jharkhand, replacing CP Radhakrishnan who was moved to the post of governor of Maharashtra, a statement by Rashtrapati Bhavan said on Saturday night.
    Party workers celebrated at his residence at Bharat Seva Trust here by offering sweets after the announcement.
    "I will live up to the new responsibility I have been given," Gangwar, 76, told reporters around late night on Saturday.
     Overwhelmed by the new role, Santosh said, "The party has always given me everything without asking for it. Now they have expressed their trust in me by making me the Governor. I am also grateful to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for this."
    He also thanked the people of Bareilly, saying he always received their faith and love.
    Gangwar, an eight-time MP of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), from the Bareilly Lok Sabha seat, has been a minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Narendra Modi governments.
    While he was not given a ticket by the BJP in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah had said that he would be given a new assignment.
    The Bareilly parliamentary seat was won by BJP’s Chhatrapal Gangwar (68) in this year's polls.
     Gangwar said he entered politics in the Emergency years and had also been jailed at the time. "After spending a year in jail, when I came out, my way of thinking changed a bit." Gangwar’s electoral journey started in 1984.
    After some time, when the post of Janata Party general secretary in the Bareilly district committee was proposed to him, Gangwar said he accepted it.
    He lost his first election in 1984 to Congress candidate Abida Begum, wife of former President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, following which he contested the Lok Sabha elections again in 1989 and became an MP for the first time.
    He won consecutive Lok Sabha elections from 1989 to 2019, except in 2009, when Praveen Singh Aron of the Congress defeated him.
     Gangwar enjoys support from various sections but holds considerable influence in the Kurmi community.
    Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya also congratulated Gangwar on being made the Governor in a post on 'X' and wished him a bright tenure.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)