Cold relations between the government and the governor in Telangana too

Telangana Chief Minister K. The rift in the relationship between Chandrasekhar Rao and the state’s Governor Tamilisai Sundararajan has come to the fore once again. The situation has given rise to questions whether the state is moving towards West Bengal or Uttarakhand. In West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar have attacked each other on several issues, including the state’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, the chief minister’s protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, the governor’s visit to a university. is included. The ‘rescue’ to a Union minister, who was allegedly locked up, and Mr Dhankhar’s announcement that he would hold a meeting with elected representatives and state government functionaries in Siliguri. In Uttarakhand, the High Court was forced to intervene and set aside a central government order that had put the state under President’s rule. In Maharashtra, Kerala and Tamil Nadu too, relations between the Chief Minister and the Governor are tense.

In Telangana, when the governor assumed office, relations between Mr. Rao and Ms. Soundararajan were normal, but tensions flared up after the governor did not act on the chief minister’s recommendation to nominate P. Kaushik Reddy to the Legislative Council. . Governor’s quota. This was followed by controversy over the appointment of the Pro tem Chairman of the Legislative Council, where the Governor is said to have insisted on the appointment of a regular Speaker and not the Pro tem Chairman. Then, neither Mr. Rao nor any of his cabinet colleagues attended the flag hoisting ceremony by the Governor on Republic Day. The governor hoisted the tricolor on the lawns of the Raj Bhavan and delivered his speech, angering the ruling party as he was expected to read out the speech approved by the Council of Ministers.

The differences came to the fore for the first time on Saturday. The governor issued a statement saying that the government, while seeking his recommendation for introducing the financial bill, mentioned that the budget session would begin with the governor’s address. Unfortunately, upon clarification, it was stated that this was unintentional. The government has decided to go ahead with the budget session without the governor’s address.

The ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi believes that the governor is partisan in contrast to former governor ESL Narasimhan, who held office before and after the formation of Telangana, and with whom Mr Rao had cordial relations.

The situation has sparked concern among legal experts and senior officials, who insisted that the governor and the chief minister have never spoken about their differences so openly. He said that these institutions hold a lot of respect in the eyes of the people. If differences continue, the image of these offices may suffer. He recommended that the Chief Minister and the Governor confine themselves to their duties and responsibilities, which are separate. A senior official said, “Understanding the subtle differences between the two posts will lead to greater coordination and in turn the prestige of these offices.”

The biggest concern is that differences could escalate and end in constitutional deadlock, which could cripple the administrative process. Since dialogue and good relations between the Governor and the Chief Minister are essential before taking important decisions, it is essential that all these issues are resolved quickly and not out in the open, so that the stature of these offices is not reduced.

rajeev.madabhushi@thehindu.co.in