MK Narayanan to be West Bengal governor; Shivraj Patil for Punjab

National security advisor MK Narayanan is being appointed governor of West Bengal and former home minister Shivraj Patil in Punjab, as the Centre has finalised a list of five new governors in various states.

Former defence secretary Shekhar Dutt has been chosen for Chhattisgarh from where ESL 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 Shivshankar Menon are believed to be the front runners.