By IANS,
Chandigarh : With over 500 personal guests, most of them from his home state, descending on this city, former Rajasthan chief minister Jagannath Pahadia was Monday sworn-in as the 15th governor of Haryana.
Pahadia, the 77-year-old Gandhian, was administered the oath of office by Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice T.S. Thakur at a ceremony at the Haryana Raj Bhawan here.
He took the oath in Hindi in the name of god.
Punjab Governor S.F. Rodrigues, Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, cabinet ministers, judges of the high court and top officials were present at the swearing-in ceremony.
Pahadia was the chief minister of Rajasthan from June 1980 till July 1981. He was a union minister of state of finance also.
Pahadia succeeds A.R. Kidwai who completed his five-year term as the Haryana governor. Kidwai was given a send-off earlier Monday morning.
Pahadia had invited over 500 guests for his swearing-in ceremony. The Haryana government booked rooms in all state guest houses and some hotels here to accommodate them.
Air-conditioned luxury buses and cars of the Haryana government were made available to the new governor’s guests for this occasion.
Pahadia met most of his guests and thanked them for coming from far-flung areas of Rajasthan – the largest state in India area wise.
Pahadia was accompanied by his wife, former parliamentarian Shanti Devi Pahadia, four daughters, two sons and their families.