Telangana Govt-Governor standoff : There is a fresh standoff between Telangana Governor Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan and the state government over eight Bills pending governor’s assent after being passed in the recent session of the Assembly.

The governor, in reply to the criticism by TRS leaders over the delay, said she has extensive powers and approving the Bills passed by the state legislature comes under her purview. Six of the eight bills are amendments of existing Acts while two new bills include setting up of a common recruitment board for the faculty of various universities and the upgradation of the forest college and research institute into a full-fledged forest university.

During an informal chat with the media on the occasion of Diwali yesterday, Dr. Soundararajan said she would act within her purview and soon take a decision on the pending bills. She also clarified that she was not against anybody.

According to sources, her reservation about a particular bill had led to the logjam. However, the delay over the pending bills had left the ruling party upset with many TRS leaders criticising the governor.

“The government makes many decisions for the welfare of the people and development of the state but the files pertaining to these are being delayed. She is governor of Telangana and not governor of some other country like Pakistan,” Telangana Assembly’s deputy Speaker T Padma Rao Goud had said last week. Similar charges were also echoed by Legislative Council chairman Gutha Sukender Reddy.

The relations between the ruling TRS and the governor have soured in recent times. On completing three years in office Dr. Soundararajan had claimed that the TRS government was indulging sexism, humiliating the first woman governor by denying her the opportunity to hoist the flag on Republic Day or address the Legislative Assembly and Council. The governor had also sat on a file on new entrant to TRS, Padi Kaushik Reddy’s nomination as MLC under governor’s quota forcing the government to send him to the Legislative Council under MLA quota.

In Chennai, the governor had recently remarked that her visit to flood-hit Bhadrachalam forced the chief minister who was sleeping in his bungalow to rush to the temple town. The TRS has charged the governor who previously was the BJP state president of Tamil Nadu, of using her Constitutional office for the purpose of politics.