Budget session: No address has Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan irked
HYDERABAD: Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan expressed displeasure over the decision of the state government to commence the budget session of the legislature from March 7 without the customary Governor's address.
The Governor reacted for the first time after the state government announced its decision on February 28 that the session would commence without the Governor's address as it contended that it was a continuation of the previous session.
In a press release issued on Saturday, the Governor stated that the state government while seeking the recommendation of the Governor for the introduction of the Financial Bill (Budget) had mentioned that the session would commence with the Governor's address.
“Unfortunately, on clarification, it was stated that it was inadvertent. Ironically, the note following democratic convention was stated as inadvertent,” Dr Soundararajan said.
"I, however, respecting the constitutional convention and going beyond political considerations and keeping up with the spirit of cooperative federalism, have conveyed my recommendation for the introduction of the Financial Bill. I had the liberty to take my time to give my recommendation. But knowing well that people’s welfare is involved, and giving primacy to people’s welfare, I gave my recommendation without any time lag," the Governor said.
The Governor found fault with the government's explanation that because it is not a new session but a continuation of the earlier session, it has not been possible to commence the budget session with the Governor’s address. The government said it was because of this technical aspect, the Governor’s address was not possible.
"The House is meeting after a period of five months. Under normal circumstances, when the House is convened after such a long interval, the House is convened for 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," Dr Soundararajan noted.
"The Governor’s address is an important instrument in upholding the democratic principles of making the government responsible to the elected members. The Governor’s role is limited to being a catalyst to the democratic ideals enshrined in our 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.
Official sources in the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) and the TRS late on Saturday strongly reacted to Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan's media statement that faulted with the state government on the issue of the Governor's address being dropped during the Budget Session starting on Monday.
They held the Governor responsible for the gap between Raj Bhavan and the Chief Minister and for this situation to arise.
They said Governor should be apolitical and discharge Constitutional duties but Dr Soundararajan was favouring a political party for which she had worked as state president earlier, and also confronting the government's decisions for political reasons.
They cited instances of the Governor rejecting Cabinet's nomination of Padi Kaushik Reddy as MLC under Governor’s quota, delaying the appointment of a protem chairman for the Legislative Council, delivering portions of her speech that were not approved by the Cabinet in a previous Budget Session and also during recent Republic Day celebrations at Raj Bhavan.
They said Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao had the highest regard for Raj Bhavan and the Governor, but Dr Soundararajan had created a situation where the government was forced to take certain decisions.
