Telangana Guv hits out at TRS govt over not starting session with her address

Telangana governor Tamilisai Soundararajan on Saturday criticised the Telangana Rashtra Samithi government for not following the convention of starting the budget session of the legislative assembly with the governor’s address .

“It was unfortunate that the state government had quoted technical reasons to avoid the governor’s address,” Soundararajan said in a statement. Her reaction came a week after the state government announced its decision to begin the budget session from Monday without the governor’s speech.

The state government had justified the move by saying that it was not a new session of the year, but was only a continuation of the earlier session. Pointing out that the legislature was meeting after five months, Soundararajan said that when the assembly was convened after such a long interval, it would be called a new session.

“Despite the long recess, the government has chosen to continue the earlier session and do away with customary Governor’s address by citing technical reasons,” she said.

The governor’s address was a statement of the government in office, Soundararajan said. “It is a report card of the activities and achievements of the government during the previous year and the policy indicators for the ensuing year,” she said.

“It also provides the occasion for the members to hold meaningful discussion on the floor of the house about the administration and debate matters mentioned in the address.”

Stating that the governor’s address was an important instrument in upholding the democratic principles of making the government responsible to the elected members, Soundararajan said the governor’s role was limited to being a catalyst to the democratic ideals enshrined in the Constitution. “By not holding the Governor’s address in this budget session, the members now stand to lose out on the opportunity to discuss the previous year performance of the government,” she said.