Veteran RSS leader, former Maharashtra assembly speaker Haribhau Bagde new Rajasthan Guv

Mumbai: Veteran Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leader and former Maharashtra assembly speaker Haribhau Bagde has been appointed the governor of Rajasthan.

Affectionately called Nana, he is well known for his passion for farming and is widely respected for a stellar political journey despite coming from a humble background in the state's Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, formerly Aurangabad.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi called me yesterday informing me that I would have to go out of Maharashtra. He also asked me to not reveal it to anyone," he told reporters while speaking about his new gubernatorial assignment.

"I have been associated with the RSS since I was 12-13 and completed its three-year course. Till 1980 I was with the Jana Sangh. I like taking up challenges. I may have been chosen for this post because of my work in the party for so may years," he added.

Bagde said his colleague Devendra Fadnavis, who is currently Maharashtra deputy chief minister, made him speaker of the assembly.

"I have never asked for any post. The state leadership of the party may have suggested my name for governorship. I will try to do full justice to the new assignment," he said.

Incidentally, Bagde was accused by the opposition of not listening to their views while he was speaker.

After the MVA government was formed, when Congress leader Nana Patole became assembly speaker, some MLAs made veiled remarks against Bagde.

The BJP leader, while addressing the house, recounted that vending milk on a two-wheeler in cold mornings in his formative years led to hearing loss in the left ear.

Bagde (79) became MLA for the first time in 1985 and represented Phulambri for five terms. He became minster for employment guarantee scheme when the Shiv Sena-BJP came to power in 1995, and in 2014 was made assembly speaker after Fadnavis became chief minister.

He said he was the first to receive formal education in his family, which was involved in social work, adding that he wanted to take up a job but his RSS mentor told him to get involved in farming.

Farming became a lifelong passion for Bagde, who has named his house Phualmbri Krushi Yog.