Swaraj rebuts reports of her appointment as Andhra Governor

Former External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj denied reports of her being appointed as the Governor of Andhra Pradesh after Union Minister Harsh Vardhan's tweet congratulating her for the same on Monday.

"The news about my appointment as Governor of Andhra Pradesh is not true," Swaraj tweeted.

Earlier, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Harsh Vardhan posted a tweet congratulating Swaraj on "her appointment". "Congratulations to senior BJP leader and former External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj ji on being appointed as the Governor of Andhra Pradesh," Harsh Vardhan wrote on Twitter.

She further said, "I called on the Vice President of India Shri Venkaiah Naidu ji on demitting office as Minister of External Affairs. This was enough for Twitter to appoint me as the Governor of Andhra Pradesh."

He, however, deleted the tweet later.

Social media users started congratulating Swaraj immediately after the minister's tweet.

Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janta Yuva Morch vice-president S G Suryah tweeted, "Smt. Sushma Swaraj has been appointed as new Andhra Pradesh Governor."

Notably, the Bharatiya Janata Party has appointed several senior leaders as Governors of different states since it came to power in 2014.

Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh, former Gujarat Chief Minister Anandi Ben Patel, Satyapal Malik, Ram Naik, former Cabinet Minister Najma Heptulla, senior Uttar Pradesh BJP leaders Lalji Tandon and Kesarinath Tripathi and former IPS officer Kiran Bedi are among the leaders who have been appointed as Governors during the past five years.

Earlier in the day, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Governor E S L Narasimhan, who took the charge in June 2014, met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi.

Swaraj did not contest the Lok Sabha elections citing health reasons. She was appointed the External Affairs Minister in the first term of Modi government in 2014.

During her tenure, the BJP leader has been active and popular on Twitter for reaching out to the Indian diaspora in distress for assistance.