The State government is said to have reacted strongly to Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan’s objection and warned that none of the Governors worked for long time in States assigned to them if they were mere puppets in the hands of the Centre.
It was important for them to tread the path of the Constitution and work with a ‘give and take approach’ with State governments. Yet, things had not gone out of hands for her and it was good for her to take corrective action as suggested by constitutional and political experts., the government reportedly counselled her.
Sources said Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao expressed dismay at Dr. Soundararajan picking up row with the State government all of a sudden though he had high regard for her ever since she assumed office here. He valued and respected Governors and constitutional institutions, but it was widely discussed that some differences between him and Dr. Soundararajan had cropped up somewhere.
In the past when Mr. E.S.L. Narasimhan was Governor both before and after formation of Telangana State, a give and take approach existed between him and Mr. Rao. But, there were some obvious reasons for lack of it now. This was because the TRS cadre believed Dr. Soundararajan did not shed her BJP background and tried to set up obstacles for the government.
It started with Dr. Soundararajan neither approving nor rejecting the nomination of a TRS leader P. Kaushik Reddy as MLC under Governor’s quota. It was believed in political circles that she deliberately suppressed the file. Next, she again delayed taking a decision on the appointment of MIM MLC Syed Ameen-ul-Jafri as pro-tem chairman of Legislative Council. She questioned the appointment of a pro-tem chairman and wanted the election of a regular chairman. She cleared the proposal finally after a nationwide picture about pro-tem chairmen and their term in office was furnished to her.
Dr. Soundararajan defied the government’s advice and went ahead with her own speech at the Republic Day celebrations at Raj Bhavan. The government did not want any speeches and did not send her any speech copy because it was decided not to conduct a public meeting due to COVID pandemic. She was not supposed to make her own speech as she was expected to read out what was approved by the Council of Ministers.
The government had taken a serious view of her deviation from reading out the prepared text for the Governor’s Address to both House of legislature for Budget session last year. Sources recalled the unceremonious exit of Mr. Ramlal as Governor of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh when NTR was dethroned in a coup in the eighties. Something like this had happened when Mr. Krishna Kant was also Governor. Therefore, it was not too late for Dr. Soundararajan even now, the government sources indicated.
