New Delhi: Sheila Dikshit, a former three-term Chief Minister of Delhi, was today appointed Governor of Kerala within three months of her defeat in the recent Assembly polls.
Highly placed sources said tonight that the decision has been conveyed to 75-year-old Dikshit, who will succeed Nikhil Kumar, a former Delhi Police Commissioner.
Dikshit, a senior Congress leader, met Union Minister Sushilkumar Shinde in the morning and the decision to make her Kerala Governor was conveyed to her.
Nikhil Kumar is resigning and is expected to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from the Aurangabad seat in Bihar, which he had won in 2004.
During the Delhi Assembly elections in December last, Dikshit suffered an ignominious defeat from New Delhi seat at the hands of Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal.
Kejriwal, who succeeded Dikshit and has since resigned over the Jan Lokpal issue, won by more than 22,000 votes.
The Congress came a poor third bagging eight seats in a House of 70.
