3 min readAmritsar, New DelhiMar 6, 2026 01:48 AM IST
Veteran diplomat Taranjit Singh Sandhu, a retired officer of the 1988 batch of the Indian Foreign Service (IFS), will be the new Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, replacing Vinai Kumar Saxena.
Sandhu has deep experience in India’s diplomatic relationship with the United States, having served four assignments in that country, including as Ambassador to Washington DC during the first Trump Administration.
Sandhu joined the BJP in March 2024, and contested the Lok Sabha election for the Amritsar seat. This was the second time that the party had fielded a former diplomat in Amritsar after Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri in 2019. Gurjeet Singh Aujla of the Congress won the seat in both elections.
On his decision to join politics, Sandhu had said during the campaign: “The Prime Minister inspired me to join politics. Once it was suggested to me, I decided to do it. I will be honest, certainly, I am still to find out — did I take a correct decision or not.”
Born on January 23, 1963, Sandhu studied at Lawrence School, Sanawar, St Stephen’s College, Delhi, and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). He belongs to a family of eminent educationists, and is the grandson of the Sikh religious reformer Teja Singh Samundri, who was among the founders of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC).
Samundri, whose name has been attached to the hall in which the elected house of the SGPC holds its meetings, was also a prominent freedom fighter and leader of the Indian National Congress. He was jailed by the British for sedition, and he died in prison in 1926.
As First Secretary (Political) at the Embassy of India in Washington, DC, Taranjit Singh Sandhu was responsible for liaisoning with the United States Congress from 1997 to 2000.
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He served at the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations, New York, from July 2005 to February 2009, and was Deputy Chief of Mission at the Indian Embassy in DC from July 2013 to January 2017.
In February 2020, Sandhu was appointed India’s Ambassador to the US, and he served in the post until January 2024.
As Ambassador, Sandhu played a key role in improving New Delhi’s relations with Washington. Shaking hands with Sandhu during a meeting in April 2022, President Joe Biden had remarked: “He looks so distinguished. This is how Ambassadors should look.”
Before his ambassadorial assignment in the US, Sandhu had served as High Commissioner to Sri Lanka from January 2017 to January 2020.
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Sandhu started his diplomatic career in the former Soviet Union (Russia), where he worked as Third Secretary (Political) / Second Secretary (Commercial) in the Indian Mission from 1990 to 1992.
Following the breakup of the Soviet Union, he was sent to open a new Embassy in Ukraine. He served as Head of the Political and Administration Wings in the Indian Embassy in Kiev (Kyiv) from 1992 to 1994.
Outgoing Delhi LG Saxena, who had been appointed to the post in May 2022, has been appointed the LG of Ladakh.
Saxena’s tenure in the position was marked by repeated run-ins with the previous Aam Aadmi Party government and former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Saxena approved criminal investigations against senior AAP leaders; the previous government too filed court cases against him.
