Bihar Governor Satya Pal Malik will replace Jammu and Kashmir Governor NN Vohra, who has held the post for the last 10 years.

The decision to appoint Malik as the new J-K Governor was taken on Tuesday along with other appointments that saw the transfer of Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy to Meghalaya.

Jammu and Kashmir has been under Governor’s rule since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) broke away from the coalition government it formed with Mehbooba Mufti’s People’s Democratic Party on 20 June calling the union “untenable” owing to rising security concerns in the state.

The J-K Assembly has been in suspended animation ever since.

Vohra’s term ended on 28 June but the NDA government continued with him in the light of the Amarnath Yatra.

Malik, who will replace Vohra, is a former Union Minister and national vice president of the BJP. He was appointed as the Governor of Bihar in September 2017 taking the place vacated by President Ram Nath Kovind.

He will be the first person with a career in politics to be appointed Governor of Jammu and Kashmir. Dr Karan Singh, son of Maharaja Hari Singh, the last ruler of the state, was the first to be appointed as Governor of J-K. Thereafter, the office was occupied either by retired Army officers or bureaucrats.

Before joining the BJP, Malik was a member of the Bhartiya Kranti Dal, Indian National Congress, Janata Dal, Lok Dal and Samajwadi Party.

His charge in Bihar will now be assumed by veteran BJP leader Lalji Tandon.

Following his appointment, Tandon told ANI, “The trust shown in me by the PM…I’ll try to make a contribution to the development of Bihar. I’ll play the role of a guardian to the state government. Nitish-ji is an old friend of mine, I don’t think we’ll have any problem between us.”

Baby Rani Maurya will replace KK Paul as the Governor of Uttarakhand.

The Centre has also appointed Satyadev Narayan Arya as the Governor of Haryana. Kaptan Singh Solanki, the Governor of Haryana, has been shifted as the Governor of Tripura.

Ganga Prasad, the Governor of Meghalaya, will now be the Governor of Sikkim.

“The appointments will take effect from the dates the incumbents assume charge of their respective offices,” a communiqué from Rashtrapati Bhavan said.