Chandigarh, Aug 31 (IANS) Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit was on Tuesday sworn in as Governor of Punjab and Administrator of Chandigarh. He has been given this as an additional charge as incumbent V.P. Singh Badnore has completed his term.
Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court Justice Ravi Shanker Jha administered the oath of office to Purohit at Punjab Raj Bhavan here.
Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatreya, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, and Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar were present on the occasion.
Purohit took the oath in English.
Earlier in the day, he arrived at the Punjab Raj Bhavan and was given a guard of honour by a Punjab Armed Police contingent.
Most experts believe India’s official toll of 414,000 dead was a vast undercount, but the government has dismissed those concerns. A report released Tuesday estimates excess deaths to be 3 million to 4.7 million between January 2020 and this June.
Rejecting all opposition to his elevation, Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi appointed Navjot Singh Sidhu as the party's new Punjab unit President along with four Working Presidents.
Calling the reports of alleged snooping on prominent citizens using Israeli Pegasus spyware as "baseless", the ruling BJP on Monday said there is not a single shred of evidence so far that links either the central government or the party to this controversy.
Congress MPs from both Houses had met on Sunday afternoon at Rajya Sabha member Pratap Singh Bajwa's residence to discuss the issues related to Punjab and sought an appointment with Gandhi.
Apart from reviewing the security arrangements in the national capital, the Delhi Police have also strengthened the security in and around the Red Fort ahead of the Independence Day.
Police said acting on a specific information, Budgam Police along with the Army's 53 RR and 43 BN of the CRPF arrested one local terrorist linked with proscribed terror outfit LeT and recovered incriminating materials, arms and ammunition including one Chinese pistol, one magazine, eight live pistol rounds from his possession.
