Panaji,  Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Tuesday welcomed the appointment of P.S. Sreedharan Pillai as the new Governor of Goa and said that the new appointee would take charge of the poll-bound state at the earliest.

"I welcome the appointment of P.S. Sreedharan Pillai as Governor by the central government. The new Governor will come to Goa at the earliest and take charge," Sawant said.

On Tuesday, President Ram Nath Kovind named new Governors for eight states, while transferring four others.

Sreedharan Pillai, a former state president of the BJP state unit in Kerala, has been transferred to Goa from Mizoram. Goa has been without a full fledged Governor for nearly a year now.

Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari has been handling the additional charge as Governor of Goa since August 19, 2020. He replaced Satya Pal Malik, who was abruptly transferred as Meghalaya Governor, after he repeatedly criticised the handling of the Covid-19 crisis by the BJP-led coalition government headed by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant.