The relations between the Telangana government and Raj Bhavan continue to be on the rough side after the recent controversy over Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan’s resistance to certain bills passed by the state legislative assembly.
And the strained relations were once again reflected on Tuesday when chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, his cabinet colleagues and even senior officials staying away from the high tea organised by the Governor as part of the customary At Home on the occasion of Independence Day.
Tamilisai said she had sent the invitation to Pragati Bhavan and the Secretariat, besides all the cabinet ministers, but there was no response from them.
“I can only extend invitation, but whether they will come or not is not in my hands,” she said.
The Governor, however, said she was very much pained at the attitude of the Telangana government.
“It is not correct on the part of the chief minister to boycott the At Home programme,” she said.
The distance between Raj Bhavan and Pragati Bhavan has been widening for the last two years, when she rejected the recommendation of KCR for the appointment of Padi Kaushik Reddy as an MLC under Governor’s quota.
Since then, the government has not been extending any protocol to the Governor, while the latter has been sitting over the bills sent by the government for approval.
She rejected four of the 10 bills passed by the assembly, while referring two other bills to the Centre.
The state assembly passed all these four bills again to the Governor, but she has not yet given them clearance, though she cannot reject them again.
Tamilisai also raised a lot of queries over the bill merging Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) with the government, before giving a conditional approval to the same.
The bill was passed by the assembly and is still awaiting the nod from her.
