Thiruvananthapuram:  Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar took the oath as the 23rd Governor of Kerala at a function held at Raj Bhavan here on Thursday.  Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court, Justice Nitin Jamdar, administered the oath at 10.30 am.

He succeeded Arif Mohammed Khan, who was transferred to serve as the Governor of Bihar. The oath-taking ceremony was attended by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Speaker AN Shamseer, CM's cabinet colleagues, senior leaders of various political parties.

Arlekar arrived in Kerala's capital on Wednesday and was welcomed at the international airport by Chief Minister Vijayan, Kerala Assembly Speaker A N Shamseer, and ministers K Rajan and Ramachandran Kadannappally.

Last week, the President of India, Droupadi Murmu, appointed Khan as the new Governor of Bihar and made the outgoing Governor, Arlekar, the Governor of Kerala. 

In December, an official statement from the President's Secretariat said that the President of India had accepted the resignation of Raghubar Das as governor of Odisha.

It also said that the President of India is also pleased to make the following appointments of Governors: Dr Hari Babu Kambhampati, governor of Mizoram has been appointed as governor of Odisha.  General (Dr) Vijay Kumar Singh was appointed as governor of Mizoram. Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar, governor of Bihar was appointed as governor of Kerala.

Arif Mohammed Khan, governor of Kerala has been appointed as governor of Bihar. Ajay Kumar Bhalla was appointed as the Governor of Manipur. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar also met the outgoing governor Arlekar  and Arif Mohammad at Raj Bhavan on December 31. He had called it a courtesy meeting.

After he was appointed the governor, Union Minister of State Nityanand Rai on Wednesday praised Arif Mohammed Khan.

"The post of Governor is a very respected post and Arif Sahab is very educated, he cares about the poor, backward and deprived. He respects the Constitution. Bihar has got a very good Governor, the previous Governor was also very good," Rai said.

The above appointments will take effect from the dates they will assume charge of their respective offices, as per the release  (with inputs from agencies) .