List of governors of Telangana

Governor of Telangana
Governor of Telangana
Telaṅgāṇa Governoru
	Incumbent; Jishnu Dev Varma ; since 31 July 2024
Style	Hon’ble Governor (within India (English); His/Her Excellency (outside India);
Status	Head of the State
Abbreviation	GOV
Residence	Raj Bhavan, Hyderabad, Telangana, India
Appointer	President of India
Term length	At the pleasure of the President
Precursor	Governor of Andhra Pradesh
Inaugural holder	E. S. L. Narasimhan (additional charge)
Formation	2 June 2014; (10 years ago)
Website	governor.telangana.gov.in

Last updated February 23, 2025

The governor of Telangana is the nominal head of the Indian state of Telangana. Appointed by the president of India, the governor holds office at the president's pleasure. The governor is the de jure head of the state government; all its executive actions are taken in the governor's name. However, the governor must act on the advice of the popularly elected government of Telangana, headed by the chief minister of Telangana, who thus serve as the de facto executive authority of the state. The Constitution of India also empowers the governor to act upon their own discretion, such as the ability to appoint or dismiss a ministry, recommend President's rule, or reserve bills for the president's assent. The governor of Telangana resides at their official residence at the Raj Bhavan in Hyderabad.

Telangana was bifurcated as an independent state on 2 June 2014. The then governor of united Andhra Pradesh, E. S. L. Narasimhan was appointed as the first governor of the new state and continued to serve as the governor for the dual states until 2019 when Biswabhusan Harichandan was appointed as the governor of Andhra Pradesh. Narasimhan was replaced as the governor of Telangana months later in September 2019 by Tamilisai Soundararajan. Soundararajan also became the first female to hold the office of the state governor. She remained in office until her resignation in March 2024. Following her resignation, the Governor of Jharkhand C. P. Radhakrishnan was appointed to hold the additional charge of the Governor of Telangana.

Qualifications

Article 157 and Article 158 of the Constitution of India specify eligibility requirements for the post of governor. They are as follows:

A governor must:

be a citizen of India.
be at least 35 years of age.
not be a member of either house of the parliament or house of the state legislature.
not hold any office of profit.

Powers and functions

The governor enjoys many different types of powers:

Executive powers related to administration, appointments and removals,
Legislative powers related to lawmaking and the state legislature, that is Vidhan Sabha (legislative assembly) & vidhan parishad, and
Discretionary powers to be carried out according to the discretion of the governor.

Apart from enjoying various constitutional powers, the governor of Telangana is the ex-officio Chancellor of the state universities of Telangana. The universities include Osmania University, Kakatiya University, Jawaharlal Nehru Architecture and Fine Arts University, Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Mahatma Gandhi University, Palamuru University, Potti Sreeramulu Telugu University, Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University, Satavahana University, Sri Konda Laxman Telangana State Horticultural University, Telangana University, and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Open University.