State of play
Cracks in relations between Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and State Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan have come to the fore yet again. The situation has given rise to questions on whether the State is heading the West Bengal or Uttarakhand way. In West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Governor Jagdeep Dhankar have attacked each other over many issues, including the State’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chief Minister’s protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, the Governor’s visit to a university to ‘rescue’ a Union Minister who was allegedly locked up, and Mr. Dhankar’s announcement that he would hold meetings with the elected representatives and State government functionaries in Siliguri. In Uttarakhand, the High Court was forced to intervene and quash the order of the Central government that had put the State under President’s Rule. Relations between the Chief Minister and Governor are also strained in Maharashtra, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
In Telangana, relations between Mr. Rao and Ms. Soundararajan were normal when the Governor assumed office, but they started to strain after the Governor did not act upon the Chief Minister’s recommendation for the nomination of P. Kaushik Reddy to the Legislative Council under the Governor’s quota. This was followed by the 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 chairman and not a 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 tricolour on the Raj Bhavan lawns and made her own speech, which angered the ruling party as she was expected to read out the speech approved by the Council of Ministers.
The differences came out in the open for the first time on Saturday. The Governor issued a statement saying the government, while seeking her recommendation for introduction of the Financial Bill, had mentioned that the Budget session would commence with the Governor’s address. Unfortunately, on clarification, it was stated that this was inadvertent. 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 unlike former Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan, who held the post both before and after the formation of Telangana, and with whom Mr. Rao had cordial relations.
The situation has caused concern among legal experts and senior officials who asserted that the Governor and the Chief Minister have never voiced their differences so openly. These institutions command a lot of respect in the public eye, they said. If the differences continue to persist, the image of these offices could be affected. They recommended that the Chief Minister and Governor confine themselves to their duties and responsibilities, which are different. “Understanding the subtle differences between the two posts will lead to greater coordination and in turn, enhance the prestige of these offices,” a senior official said.
The biggest concern is that the differences could escalate and end up in a constitutional deadlock, thereby bringing the administrative process to a grinding halt. Since conversations and good relations between the Governor and Chief Minister are imperative before important decisions are taken, it is necessary that all these issues are sorted out quickly, and not in the open, so that the stature of these offices is not diminished.
rajeev.madabhushi@thehindu.co.in
