Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan on Thursday hit out at Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao for his government’s alleged continued neglect towards Raj Bhavan.
“It is a flagrant violation of the constitution by the Telangana government of not inviting the Governor of the State for Republic Day celebrations. The Chief Minister undermined the significance of Republic Day by not holding the parade and inviting the Governor. I am used to the boycott by the Chief Minister but now he has insulted the constitution by not involving Raj Bhavan in the Republic Day event,” Dr. Tamilisai said while interacting with media at Raj Nivas in Puducherry after unfurling the national flag near the Gandhi Statue on the Beach Road. Ms Tamilisai is holding additional charge as Lt Governor of Puducherry.
A person in Telangana had moved the High Court seeking a direction to the government to organise the Republic Day celebrations after following the Standard Operating Procedure. The Court had also given the direction to the government to conduct the Republic Day parade. The government should have adhered to the court directions. By not holding the event and boycotting the Governor, the Telangana government has violated the basic tenets of the Constitution, she said.
“The government says it didn’t have the time to organise the parade. But on my part, I organised the Republic Day event at Raj Bhavan and unfurled the national flag. I also gave awards to six persons before leaving to Puducherry,” she said.
“It was the duty and responsibility of the governments in the country to organise Republic Day celebrations. The issue has been taken up with the Union Government. The officials continue to maintain the practice of ignoring me. No IAS or IPS officers attend my events. I am within my rights to take action against those officials but resisting myself as it will impact their career. They might have got instruction from the government not to attend the function at Raj Bhavan. Hence, they are not cooperating,” she said.
On her one hour delay in arrival at Puducherry from Telangana to unfurl the national flag as Lt Governor of UT, Dr Tamilisai said her flight got delayed because of landing problem at Puducherry Airport.
The Lt Governor said she had boarded the flight at Hyderabad around 8. a.m and was scheduled to land at Puducherry by 9 a.m. “The flight took off only at 8. 45 a.m due to delay in getting clearance from Puducherry airport. Visibility was very poor. Even though the delay is not due to my fault, I express my regret for causing inconvenience to participants, especially children,” Dr Tamilisai said.
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