The gulf between Pragati Bhavan, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s office–cum residence, and Raj Bhavan appears to have been somewhat bridged going by the bonhomie seen between the two during the inauguration of three places of worship on the Secretariat premises on Friday, August 25.
The Chief Minister, it is learnt, extended an invitation to the Governor for the inauguration during their meeting in Raj Bhavan on Thursday and the latter readily confirmed her participation. Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao reached the secretariat premises at around 12 noon on Friday and waited for the Governor to arrive. He accompanied her to the temple, church and mosque constructed in the new secretariat, showing her the salient features incorporated in them.
After formally inaugurating the places of worship, Dr. Tamilisai boarded the Chief Minister’s vehicle and was taken to the Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Telangana State Secretariat by Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao, who showed her around. Interestingly, the Governor had not been invited for the inauguration of the new secretariat on April 30 nor to the unveiling of the 125-ft Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s statue set up in the premises earlier that month.
Things have seemed to have gone cold between the two high offices of the State for some months ever since the Governor raised queries about the nomination of P. Kaushik Reddy as a member of the Legislative Council in the Governor’s quota. The Governor was not invited for her customary address to the joint session of legislature marking the commencement of the budget session last year while Mr. Rao and Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan organised the Independence Day and Republic day functions separately thereafter. The Chief Minister, his Cabinet colleagues and senior BRS leaders had been skipping the ‘At Home’ receptions hosted by Raj Bhavan for quite some time now.
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The differences between the two offices grew to the extent that the BRS Government filed an appeal in the Supreme Court alleging that the Governor’s institution was not clearing Bills passed by the two houses of the legislature. Four such Bills had been returned by the Governor and re-sent to her for her consent.
This apart, the Governor had sought clarifications on the Bill pertaining to TSRTC’s merger with the Government and wanted some new provisions to be added to the Bill. The proposals of the Government nominating Dasoju Sravan and Kurra Satyanarayana as legislative council members are still pending clearance by the Raj Bhavan.
