K Venkateshwarlu
Hyderabad
A day after the Telangana Government approached the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the Governor, Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan, to approve pending Bills, she told Chief Secretary A. Santhi Kumari that Raj Bhavan is nearer than New Delhi.
The Governor also took potshots at the Chief Secretary for not paying a courtesy visit to the Raj Bhavan after taking charge as the top bureaucrat.
As the Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court was filed through the Chief Secretary, the Governor took to Twitter on Friday to train her guns on the CS.
“Dear Telangana CS, the Raj Bhavan is nearer than New Delhi. After assuming office as the CS you didn’t find time to visit the Raj Bhavan officially. No protocol! No courtesy even for a courtesy call. Friendly official visits & interactions would have been more helpful which you don’t even intend,” says a tweet from the official handle of Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan.
“Again I remind you the Raj Bhavan is nearer than New Delhi,” she added. Santhi Kumari took charge as the Chief Secretary on January 11.
The Governor’s tweet came a day after the Telangana government filed an SLP in the Supreme Court through the Chief Secretary.
The Telangana government’s petition against the Governor is likely to be heard in the Supreme Court after Holi.
On Thursday, the Telangana Government filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the Governor for not clearing 10 Bills passed by the Assembly.
But this petition was not raised by the Telangana Government in the Supreme Court on Friday. The Telangana Government did not mention the case on Friday thinking that the case may be heard on the date allowed by the registry.
The government told the Supreme Court that the Governor didn’t give assent to 10 Bills. It pleaded with the SC to direct the Governor to fulfil her Constitutional obligation.
The SLP says that seven of these Bills have been pending with Raj Bhavan since September while the other three were sent to the Governor on February 13 after the Assembly’s budget session ended.
The petition requested the Supreme Court to declare as illegal, irregular and unconstitutional the delay by the Governor.
This is the second time that the BRS has knocked on the court’s door against the Governor. Last month, the government moved the Telangana High Court seeking a direction to the Governor to give her approval to the Budget for 2023-24. The court, however, had suggested both sides sort out the issue amicably.
However, reacting to the Governor’s tweet, BRS Minister Jagadish Reddy said, “The Governor didn’t clear the Bills due to political malice. The Governor, Dr Tamilisai, is conspiring to block Telangana’s development.”
He said that the Raj Bhavan should not become a centre for recommendations and that it is outrageous that Telangana Bills are kept pending without being cleared by the Governor.
The Minister made it clear that the government will proceed legally to get approval for Telangana Bills.
BSP Telangana chief Dr RS Praveen Kumar re-tweeted, “Never in my memory are AIS officers so badly sandwiched between the two Bhavans. Raj Bhavan is inviting and Pragathi Bhavan is insulting!! The Telangana people are suffering between the two Bhavans. It is learnt that 10,000 files are pending.”
Reacting to the issue, TPCC President Revanth Reddy said that the Governor and the government are becoming one when there is a need to take a decision. However, they are raising curtains for political dramas later. The BJP and the BRS are not different and the Governor has been behaving in this manner after an agreement between the Raj Bhavan and Pragathi Bhavan, he added.
He said that the Governor has become a political leader.
Revanth said the Governor can conduct a review meeting after summoning officials in case they failed to hear her word. The Governor has the authority to recommend to DoPT in case officials fail to heed her word and then DoPT will take action against the CS.
