Unlike her predecessor E.S.L. Narasimhan, she will open the doors of the Raj Bhavan for the common public.
HYDERABAD: Newly appointed Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan appears to be adopting an assertive work style in Hyderabad Raj Bhavan. Unlike her predecessor E.S.L. Narasimhan, who left the post after a decade-long stint, she will be opening the doors of the Raj Bhavan for the common public who want to express their grievances.
Though it has been just two weeks since she took over as Governor, her plans to be proactive in the Constitutional post are likely to irk Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) who is a stickler for the prescribed protocol between the Raj Bhavan and the state government. Moreover, Tamilisai’s plans to hold a “janata durbar” at Raj Bhavan every fortnight or month may not go down well with the government.
The Governor has already told her staff to make arrangements for the Janata Durbars at her place so that people would have an opportunity to meet her on whatever issue they have. She rose in the ranks in Bharatiya Janata Party in Tamil Nadu. During the Janata Duarbar, she wants to take up issues of the ordinary people, especially women in rural areas.
While the Raj Bhavan in Hyderabad was inaccessible to visitors and general public when Narasimhan was there, now it will be accessible to anyone who wants to meet the Governor at a short notice. This is also in contrast with the inaccessibility of Pragati Bhavan, the official residence of the Chief Minister, barely a kilometre from the Raj Bhavan.
In fact, her decision to hold a durbar, too, originated from the complaints from sections of people that they were denied access to the Chief Minister either at the official residence or the Secretariat in the last five years. She assured the public that she would be available to anyone who wants to meet. There is no Constitutional barrier for a Governor to meet the public at Raj Bhavan.
Narasimhan, too, allowed common public to his place, but only on certain occasions like festivals or his birthday and that too only for a few selected people. Narasimhan used to grant appointments to those who want to meet him on merits only. He would make sure that there were none known for their aggressive anti-government approach.
There were instances when Narasimhan used to enter into arguments with those who leveled charges against KCR or his government. Several BJP and Congress leaders had a bitter experience of the former Governor reprimanding them for “tarnishing the image of the TRS government” which was “doing good work”. “I was scared of meeting the Governor,” said a Congress former MLC who was scolded by the Governor.
The Opposition camp is much relieved at the exit of Narasimhan from Raj Bhavan and the friendly approach of Tamilisai. Though the new Governor is not expected to go out of her way to please these Opposition leaders, she would at least be available to them and won’t scold them, if they bring petitions against the government.
Tamilisai, as the chancellor of all state-run universities in Telangana, also wants to be active in their day-to-day affairs and maintaining standards of education. Her decision to call for a meeting of all vice-chancellors (V-Cs) on 24 September has already become a controversy of sorts. All the major universities in Telangana are run by IAS officers as in-charge V-Cs.
Her plans to hold a V-Cs’ meeting on Tuesday clashes with a meeting of Chief Ministers of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh on the same day. KCR and Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy will be meeting to sort out several inter-state issues at the meeting and the presence of these IAS officers is required there. The officials, half a dozen, as secretaries and in-charge V-Cs will find it difficult to choose one of the meetings.
According to sources in the government, efforts are on to persuade the Raj Bhavan to defer the V-Cs’ meting to a later date and there may not be any problem on that. But what irked the Chief Minister’s office is that the Governor decided to hold the conference at a time when there were no regular V-Cs. “There is no objection to the Governor holding a V-Cs’ meet, but that can happen after the regular V-Cs were appointed,” a source said.
Tamilisai’s plans to visit districts to see the condition of hospitals and primary health centers to improve the healthcare to women, too, might draw her attention. At present the Raj Bhavan is busy receiving delegations from all walks of life, mostly SC/ST/OBC organisations, mainly to felicitate her. She is patiently talking to them and receiving their representations.