Vala to take oath as Karnataka governor Monday

Karnataka Governor-designate Vajubhai Rudabhai Vala, 76, will take the oath of office Monday at the Raj Bhavan here.

Karnataka High Court Chief Justice D.H. Waghela will administer the oath, a state official told IANS here Saturday.

Vala will take over from Tamil Nadu governor K. Rosaiah, who was made acting governor a day after H.R. Bhardwaj demitted office June 29 on completing his five-year term.

Following his appointment by the president Tuesday, Vala resigned as Gujarat assembly speaker Thursday and as a lawmaker from Rajkot in the western state's Saurashtra region.

A close associate of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Vala was also a cabinet minister for over a decade in the BJP governments of Modi and Keshubhai Patel.

When Modi took over as chief minister in 2001, Vala vacated the Rajkot-2 assembly seat, making way for him to enter the lower house.

During his long tenure as minister, Vala held many portfolios, including finance and revenue and presented a record number of budgets in the Gujarat assembly.