Telangana Governor says state govt humiliating her

Telangana governor Tamilisai Soundararajan has accused Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao of repeatedly humiliating her and treating the Raj Bhavan as “an untouchable place”.

On Thursday, as she entered the fourth year in office, Tamilisai charged that the TRS government is refusing to provide her with a chopper facility, forcing her to take arduous road journeys and disregarding protocols when touring the state. She said that the CM, and his administration, while “disrespecting her, are also being unresponsive to her missives about people’s problems”, like the plight of the IIIT Basara students. “Telangana and its people are known for great culture, but history pages will also record that a woman governor was discriminated against here,” Tamilisai said while interacting with press persons.

Though she has been making her disapproval over some matters public, Tamilisai chose to step up the offensive as she completed three years as the head of the state. The governor said that she was not being allowed to unfurl the national flag on Republic Day, not given speech copies and denied the job of addressing the Assembly, and so on. “I do not want to talk about such things, but the reality should come out before the public.”

The governor took exception to KCR avoiding visits and skipping the At-Home organised at the Raj Bhavan on Independence Day to mark Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav. “We were informed that the CM would attend the function, but there was no response thereafter. (They might not respect me personally) But certain systems and protocols should be followed,” Tamilisai said.

The relation between the Raj Bhavan and Pragathi Bhavan (CM’s office cum residence), just about 2 km apart in Hyderabad, came under strain even as Tamilisai chose not to keep the building out of bounds for the public and herself, not confining responsibilities within the premier premises.

Kalvakuntla Kavitha, CM’s daughter and an MLC, reacted by saying, “The office of Telangana Governor has turned into a political stage determined to defame the TRS government and CM KCR.” “The statements of Hon’ble Governor come at a time when they realised that the BJP driven smear campaigns can’t con the people of Telangana,” Kavitha tweeted.