Daijiworld Media Network – Udupi (JD)

Udupi, Nov 10: P B Acharya, former governor of Nagaland and a native of Udupi passed away on Friday November 10.

Padmanabha Balakrishna Acharya was a senior leader, having served the Rashriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and BJP. He was the second person from coastal Karnataka to have been picked up for the Governor’s post after Margaret Alva, and first ever from the GSB community.

Acharya was a student belonging to the first batch of MGM College (1948-50). He had served as the head of RSS Vidyaranya unit in Kadabettu in the town. Acharya, who was an active worker of the RSS, had been kept behind bars for over six months by the government in 1948, after RSS was banned.

He had served as national secretary of the BJP when Narendra Modi was functioning as the national general secretary of the party, between 1995 and 2001. During that period, Modi was in charge of five north Indian states, while Padmanabha Acharya was entrusted with the north-eastern states.

Acharya had served as governor of Nagaland, Tripura, Assam and also handled the responsibilities as the governor of Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh.