Telangana Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan on Saturday said that respecting Constitutional values and offices cannot be “selective” while firing another salvo at the TRS government and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.
The Governor made the observation in her address on the occasion of the Constitution Day which was marked through a function at the Raj Bhavan.
Relations between the Raj Bhavan and Pragathi Bhavan, the Chief Minister’s camp office, have been frosty with Dr Soundararajan publicly accusing the state government of disrespecting her and the Chief Minister of discriminating against her because she was a woman despite holding a Constitutional office.
In her address, Dr Soundararajan said: “The acceptance and adherence to the Constitutional values and respecting the Constitutional offices cannot be selective. We must show unquestionable loyalty to the Constitution and there is no hesitation to show the Constitution is supreme in our country.”
While the TRS has maintained that Dr Soundararajan who was the BJP state president of Tamil Nadu prior to her appointment as Governor was using the constitutional post to indulge in politics and show the TRS government in poor light, she has denied the charge.
Instead, she accused the state government of failing to observe protocol particularly during her visits to the districts. She has said that despite prior intimation, District Magistrates and Superintendents of Police have stayed away from her programmes.
She has also accused Rao of failing to fulfil his duty as he was staying away from the Raj Bhavan and despite repeated calls to his office chose not to meet her. The Governor and the Chief Minister did not meet for over a year and in recent times the only occasion when the Chief Minister visited the Raj Bhavan was during the oath taking ceremony of the new Chief Justice of Telangana High Court.
In a recent television interview, Dr Soundararajan had accused the Chief Minister of discriminating against her as a woman pointing out in case of her predecessors ESL Narasimhan, Rao used to visit him at the Raj Bhavan almost every week. Dr Soundararajan refrained from calling him a misogynist but pointed out his Cabinet did not have a woman minister for a long time.