Former top cop and senior BJP leader Kiran Bedi has been appointed as the Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry, where the Congress won the assembly elections last week. She replaces Lieutenant-General AK Singh — who as the Lieutenant Governor of Andaman and Nicobar, was given additional charge of Puducherry in 2014.
Bedi will be the 24th Lt Governor of the Union Territory.
A press release from the President’s office said: “The President of India has been pleased to appoint Ms Kiran Bedi, to be the Lt. Governor of Puducherry with effect from the date she assumes charges of her office.”
Puducherry, where she is being posted, just concluded its election season last week. Out of the 30 seats, Congress won 15 and its ally DMK two.
Bedi had joined the BJP in January last year, as its chief ministerial candidate for 2015 Delhi Assembly elections but her candidature was cited as one of the key reasons why the party lost the battle of Delhi.
Bedi, who served in the police force for over 30 years, had unsuccessfully contested the 2015 Delhi Assembly elections on a BJP ticket. She was earlier a part of the India Against Corruption movement led by activist Anna Hazare, but later parted ways.
