CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu’s ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) mouthpiece on Monday warned governors to work in tandem with state governments or risk ending up as Telangana’s Tamilisai Soundarajan who last week accused the KCR government of humiliating the state governor’s office.
“If the Governors think they can put spokes in welfare schemes or government programmes without realising that they have not been guaranteed with such powers in the Constitution, they would only meet the fate of Tamilisai,” the DMK’s mouthpiece ‘Murasoli’ said in an article on Monday.
It continued. “Instead of joining hands with the elected governments, they (governors) try to interfere with its functioning. Governors should realise they are just bommais (dolls) after the Supreme Court judgement in S R Bommai case (1994),” the article said.
The article comes against the backdrop of complaints by Tamilisai Soundarajan last week that the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government led by K. Chandrashekar Rao didn’t allow her to address the assembly, hoist the national flag on Republic Day or extend other due courtesies to her.
Like when she had to travel eight hours by road to attend the tribal festival of ‘Sammakka-Sarakka Jatara’ when the government allegedly didn’t get back on her request for a chopper, according to a Press Trust of India report on September 8.
{{/usCountry}}Like when she had to travel eight hours by road to attend the tribal festival of ‘Sammakka-Sarakka Jatara’ when the government allegedly didn’t get back on her request for a chopper, according to a Press Trust of India report on September 8.
{{/usCountry}}Before Tamilisai Soundarajan was appointed Telangana governor in 2019 - she also holds charge as Puducherry Lt Governor, she led the Tamil Nadu unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) unit.
Tamilisai, who was on a visit to Tamil Nadu’s Trichy on Monday, said the Murasoli piece appeared to have blown her statements out of proportion.
“I’m surprised that a party’s paper is saying I was jolted which I never was. And I’m surprised they seem to take advantage that I was disrespected instead of being empathetic,” Soundarajan.
“I only gave an interview that certain culture and protocol were not upheld. I wanted the public to know that…I said that even when good things are happening in the state, a governor is also disrespected. Whether I’m respected or disrespected, I will continue my work.”
Soundarajan, who completed three years in Hyderadad’s Raj Bhavan, has had differences with the K Chandrashekar Rao government on multiple issues. Soundarajan was reported to have flagged instances of the elected government humiliating her office when she met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in April this year.
The Murasoli piece comes at a time the DMK government is upset with Tamil Nadu governor RN Ravi for holding back his assent to the legislation passed to abolish the common medical entrance examination NEET. Ravi initially returned the bill to the assembly and after it was passed a second time by the assembly, the governor referred it to the central government.
“If the confrontationist attitude of the governors continues, they should remember they will meet the same fate as Tamilisai,” the Murasoli article said.