Narayanan to be West Bengal Governor, Patil for Punjab

NEW DELHI: National Security Advisor M K Narayanan is being appointed Governor of West Bengal and former home minister Shivraj Patil in Punjab as the Centre has finalized a list of five new Governors in various states.

Former defence secretary Shekhar Dutt has been chosen for Chhattisgarh from where E S L Narasimhan moves to Andhra Pradesh Raj Bhavan, highly-placed sources said.

Senior Congress leader Mohsina Kidwai will be the new Governor of Jharkhand from where K Sankaranarayan is being shifted to Maharashtra.

Himachal Pradesh Governor Prabha Rau is being moved to Rajasthan from Himachal Pradesh where senior Congress leader from Gujarat and former Union minister Urmilaben Patel will be the new incumbent.

The names of Governors, which were cleared at a meeting between Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yesterday, have been forwarded to the Rashtrapati Bhavan by the home ministry.

The appointment of 75-year-old Narayanan, a former IB chief, creates a vacancy in the NSA's post for which former foreign secretaries Shyam Saran and Shiv Shankar Menon are believed to be the front runners.