Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan on Wednesday alleged that the state government is insulting the office of governor.
The Governor, who called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the national capital, is believed to have apprised him of the recent incidents in the state including violation of the Governor’s protocol and the state government doing away with the Governor’s address from the Budget session of the state Legislature.
Talking to reporters after meeting with the Prime Minister, she referred to the recent incidents and said that the Constitutional post of the Governor should be respected.
Soundararajan, however, said she was not feeling offended and was leaving it to the people of Telangana to judge how the state government was behaving toward her.
“This is an open thing. Even media people, everyone knows. There is no need to report these things,” she said when asked if she reported to the Prime Minister about the incidents.
The meeting comes amid the growing chasm between Governor Soundararajan and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao in recent months.
She said that though she has Constitutional powers, she doesn’t want to enforce them. She claimed that she wants to maintain good relations with the government.
She denied that she politicized anything or took any controversial decision. She defended the decision taken on the government’s recommendation to nominate P. Kaushik Reddy as a member of the Legislative Council.
“They can’t force me. I have already explained it. It’s the Governor’s quota and the provision is for the service category. When I am not satisfied with the candidature, it’s my right to tell. It’s not that everything should be accepted. It’s not that I am opposed to everything and I wanted to create a controversy,” she said.
Soundararajan argued that it was not a political decision but a Constitutional one.
“When they wanted to have a problem chairman of the Council once again, I pointed out the Constitutional provision as protem chairman is an interim arrangement. It should be accepted with an open heart or it could be discussed. Ministers or Chief Ministers can come to Raj Bhavan and discuss. I am for open discussion,” she said.
“If something is not accepted it does not mean that the Governor’s office should be insulted. Maybe some decisions of the Governor are not accepted. Does that mean the Governor’s office should be insulted, Governor’s protocol should be violated and Governor is not taken care of when she goes for a tour,” she asked.
She pointed out that the district and SP did not receive her when she went to Medaram Jatara, a tribal fair held in February.
She, however, said she didn’t care about these protocol violations. “I am concerned about the office of Governor. It should not be repeated. The office of the Governor should be respected. I am here today but somebody else may come tomorrow,” she said.
The Governor also mentioned the Chief Minister and ministers not attending the pre-Ugadi celebrations hosted by her at Raj Bhavan. She said others who were invited but were unable to come called her and explained why they couldn’t attend. “Even that response did not come (from the Chief Minister and ministers),” she said.
