Rama Krishna Sangem
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao first the time rolled out an official welcome to Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan at the annex of places of worship of Dr BR Ambedkar Secretariat on August 25, Friday. KCR led the Governor to the newly built secretariat as she formally inaugurated the three places – a church, a mosque and a Hindu temple – on its premises.
It looked like a festive occasion (this day also marked Varalakshmi Vratam) as the Governror went round the places of worship as well as the secretariat building, guided by the CM. In fact, Dr Tamilisai complained long ago, that she was not invited to the inauguration of the secretariat two months back. CM KCR took note of her concern and formally invited to the inauguration of these places of worship, which too fall on the premises of secretariat.
The relations between the CM and the Governor were choppy (or even frozen) for the last four years. There were times when the CM hasn’t called on the Governor for several months together, while the latter refused to clear the files sent by the former. There were also instances when the officials were afraid of attending functions at Raj Bhavan, due to these troubled ties.
Even recently, the Governor gave tense moments to the KCR Cabinet withholding a money bill – to merge TS RTC with the government. Of course, she gave consent in the last minute and it was passed by the assembly. But, even after its passage in the assembly, she referred it to the law department’s perusal causing further delay in its enactment. Not just this, there are another half a dozen bills that are still to be signed by the Governor.
CM KCR took initiative
This time, CM KCR took initiative to invite Dr Tamilisai to the opening of these places of worship on the secretariat premises. He, as usual has been going to Raj Bhavan for certain customary occasions – like swearing in ceremonies of High Court judges, ministers etc, but refrained from turning up for At Home events on Independence Day or Republic Day. On recent August 15 At Home too, CM KCR and his entire Cabinet didn’t turn up.
However, KCR invited her to the secretariat, when they met on the occasion of BRS MLC P Mahender Reddy’s oath taking as a minister on August 23, Wednesday. We don’t know, if they also discussed the fate of some bills which are pending with the Governor. But, as a first step, Dr Tamilisai agreed to the invitation and inaugurated the three places of worship. CS Santi Kumari, IAS and several ministers too joined the CM in rolling out a grand welcome to the Governor.
