RANCHI: Veteran BJP leader from Tamil Nadu CP Radhakrishnan on Saturday took the oath of office as the 11th governor of Jharkhand at the Raj Bhavan.

Acting Chief Justice of Jharkhand High Court Aparesh Kumar Singh administered the oath of office and secrecy to Radhakrishnan, 65, at a ceremony attended by Chief Minister Hemant Soren, Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting L Murugan, Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, state ministers, MPs and MLAs.

''I am very happy to take over as the governor of Jharkhand. The ultimate aim is to ensure the all-round development of the state... Development is the only answer for eradication of poverty,'' he later told reporters.

Radhakrishnan, a two-time Lok Sabha member from Coimbatore, succeeded Ramesh Bais, who served as the governor of Jharkhand since July 2021.

''I have full faith that your guidance will always be available for the all-round development of the state,'' Soren said in a tweet, congratulating the new governor.

After taking the oath, Radhakrishnan visited to Ulihatu village in Khunti district, the birthplace of tribal icon Birsa Munda, around 60 km from state capital Ranchi.

Radhakrishnan said it is the unparallel contribution by icons like Birsa Munda that ''we could be become citizens of a free nation''.

''Today we are the fifth biggest economy in the world,'' he said, adding that he was committed to the upliftment of Jharkhand and its people.

Later, he paid obeisance to Lord Shiva at Panch Mandir in Ranchi on the occasion of Maha Shivaratri.

''On the holy day of Maha Shivaratri, I worshipped Lord Shiva and prayed to him for happiness, wealth and health of the people of Jharkhand,'' Radhakrishnan told PTI.

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