KCR, ministers skip Ugadi festivities hosted by Telangana governor

In yet another instance of the widening rift between Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, the entire Telangana government boycotted the pre-Ugadi festivities hosted by her at Raj Bhavan on Friday evening.

The Governor sent an official invitation to the chief minister, his cabinet colleagues and prominent leaders of the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi, besides leaders of the opposition parties to take part in the customary celebrations on the eve of Ugadi, the Telugu New Year Day.

“However, not only the chief minister, but not a single TRS leader attended the festivities held at Raj Bhavan. Even senior officials of the government, including chief secretary Somesh Kumar, did not turn up at the meeting,” a Raj Bhavan spokesperson said.

A TRS functionary said on condition of anonymity that since the chief minister himself had decided against going to Raj Bhavan, no other ruling party leader would attend the programme.

Despite being the first citizen of the state, the Governor did not get any official invitation from the Telangana government for the inauguration of the renovated ancient temple of Lord Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy at Yadadri, about 70 km from Hyderabad, on March 28.

The temple complex was inaugurated by the chief minister, who also performed the first puja at the sanctum sanctorum of the cave temple, which was reopened after a gap of six years. His family members, his cabinet colleagues, MLAs and a large number of the TRS leaders attended the event.

“We have not extended any special invitation to anyone. They have come on their own,” temple executive officer Dr N Geetha Reddy said.

A day later, when Tamilisai visited Warangal to inaugurate the two-day Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav (RSM) or National Cultural Festival being organised by the Union ministry of culture and tourism, the TRS leaders, including the local MLAs, boycotted her tour.

Though local TRS lawmaker Dasyam Vinay Bhaskar and Warangal Mayor Gundu Sudha Rani were very much present in the town, they stayed away from the function, which was also attended by Union tourism and culture minister G Kishan Reddy.

State minister for panchayat raj Errabelli Dayakar Rao, who also hails from Warangal district, was also invited for the function, but he too abstained from the event, which was organised as part of the Azad Ki Amrit Mahotsav (75 years of Indian independence).

Sudha Rani told reporters later that she could not attend the Governor’s programme as she was suffering from cold. The Governor could not be reached for her reaction on the denial of protocol by the ruling party.

On March 25, too, when the Governor toured tribal hamlets of Appapur and Bourapur in Nagarkurnool district, the two Chenchu habitations, as a part of her initiative Nutritional Intervention and overall development of primitive tribal groups of select villages, too, the TRS lawmakers boycotted her programme.

As per the protocol, the Governor was supposed to be received by local public representatives and officials, including the local MLAs. But none of the four MLAs falling under the district – Nagarkurnool, Achampet, Kollapur and Kalvakurthy, turned up at Tamilisai tour.

On yet another occasion in the past, when the Governor visited Medaram tribal hamlet in Mulugu district to attend Sammakka Saralamma jatara on February 19, the government did not follow the protocol.

She denied her a helicopter and she had to travel for nearly 200 km by car and when she went to the hamlet, none of the ministers and MLAs received her. Even the district authorities stayed away from her visit.

The rift between the Governor and the TRS came to the fore openly when the state government dropped the customary Governor’s address at the commencement of the state budget session on March 8. Though she did not react immediately, she later issued a statement saying that the state government had not followed the Constitutional convention on the pretext of technical reasons.

State legislative affairs minister Vemula Prashant Reddy, however, said the Governor’s address was not required for the budget session, since it was only an extension of the winter session held in October which was not prorogued but was only adjourned.