Hyderabad: Telangana governor Tamilisai Soundararajan and Telangana government have locked horns over the issue of handling of Covid-19 cases and testing.
Recently Soundararajan gave statements over handling of coronavirus situation which have not gone down well with the state government.
According to Times of India, chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao was unhappy with the governor for reviewing and commenting on Covid-19 cases and indirectly giving ammo to the opposition BJP and Congress to target his government.
Ruffled over Soundararajan holding meetings on key subjects like education and health without informing its officials, the CM is believed to have discussed the issue with some of his ministers and top officials.
The governor recently visited Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS). Earlier she had interacted with senior health officials on the ongoing lockdown measures and Covid-19 cases.
A senior CMO official claimed that by criticising the government the governor is providing moral support to the opposition parties. Criticising the governor a top CMO official noted that the role of a governor is advisory and she cannot criticise her own government. By interacting with officials without informing the government she is violating the protocol he said.
It must be recalled that last month the governor had not only interacted with vice-chancellors and educationists of various universities in her capacity as a chancellor, but had also given instructions to the VCs on conducting the examinations. This upset the government and the officials feel it was the prerogative of the government.
The government has been wary of Soundararajan’s actions, ever since she was sworn in as Telangana governor in September 2019. Besides expressing a desire to conduct a ‘janata darbar’ at Raj Bhavan, Soundararajan liberally gives appointments to opposition leaders. A senior functionary of the government pointed out that BJP and Congress have met her at least 20 times in the last few months.
It must not be out of place to mention here that Soundararajan was the Tamil Nadu BJP chief before occupying the gubernatorial post at the Raj Bhavan.