Veteran leader and three-time Chief Minister of Puducherry, M.O.H. Farook was sworn in as Governor of Kerala here on Thursday.
Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court J. Chelameswar administered the oath of office to Mr. Farook who has moved into Kerala after serving as Governor of Jharkhand. He replaces R. S. Gavai whose term has ended. Mr. Farook is the 16th Governor to hold full charge of the State.
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and a galaxy of prominent persons from different walks of life were present at the Raj Bhavan to witness the swearing-in ceremony. Among them was Speaker G. Karthikeyan, KPCC president Ramesh Chennithala, Industries Minister P. K. Kunhalikkutty, Power Minister Aryadan Mohammed, Health Minister Adoor Prakash, Transport Minister V. S. Sivakumar, Food Minister T. M. Jacob, Forest Minister K. B. Ganesh Kumar, Tourism Minister A. P. Anil Kumar, BJP State president V. Muralidharan, CPI legislature party leader and former Minister C. Divakaran, former Minister and JD (S) legislature party leader Mathew T. Thomas, A. Sampath, MP, Mayor K. Chandrika and Sunni leader Kanthapuram A. P. Abubaker Musalyar.
Leader of the Opposition V. S. Achuthanandan was not present at the swearing-in ceremony as he was away in Kannur attending CPI(M) Central committee member E. P. Jayarajan’s son’s wedding.
Born on September 6, 1937, Mr. Farook had served as the Speaker of Puducherry from 1964 to 1967 and Chief Minister during 1967-68, 1969-1974 and 1985-1990. He was elected three times to the Lok Sabha from Puducherry in 1991, 1996 and 1999 and had served as Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation and Tourism during 1991-1992 and later as the Indian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia from 2004.
