After months of cold war, Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao on Tuesday visited the Raj Bhavan and shared the stage with Governor Tamilisai Sundararajan.
The occasion was the swearing-in of Justice Ujjwal Bhuiyan as the Chief Justice of Telangana High Court.
Putting aside differences with the Governor, the Chief Minister continued the tradition of attending the swearing-in ceremony of the Chief Justice.
KCR, as the Chief Minister is popularly known, exchanged greetings with the Governor and presented him a bouquet. He congratulated Justice Bhuyan and also participated in a brief customary meeting with both the Governor and the new Chief Justice.
There was speculation that in view of the cold war with the Governor, the Chief Minister would stay away from the function and meet the new Chief Justice separately.
This was KCR’s first visit to the Raj Bhavan after the tension between the two leaders.
While Tamilisai alleged that the state government was insulting the constitutional office of the governor, several state ministers slammed him for acting like a spokesperson of the BJP.
The rift between the governor and the chief minister came to the fore in March when the state government dropped the customary governor’s address at the start of the state budget session of the state legislature. He said that the state government did not follow the constitutional convention on the pretext of technical reasons.
The chief minister, his cabinet colleagues and leaders of the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) had boycotted the pre-Ugadi festival organized by the governor at the Raj Bhavan in April.
The governor complained that though he extended the invitation, neither the chief minister nor his ministers or officials attended the ceremony and expressed their inability to attend.
The Governor was also not invited to the Ugadi function held at Pragati Bhavan, the official residence of the Chief Minister.
Earlier, the state government had not invited the governor to inaugurate the renovated Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple in Yadadri.
Tamilisai also alleged that the state government did not follow protocol when she had gone to Medaram in Mulugu district to participate in Sammakka Saralamma Jatara, a tribal fair in February.
The governor had complained to the Center about non-compliance of protocol by the state government during his visits.
On June 10, the Governor started getting representation of the people by organizing ‘Praja Darbar’ at the Raj Bhavan. She defended the move, saying she wanted to act as a bridge between the state government and the people.
She shrugged off criticism that she was crossing her limits. She argued that why should she be denied the opportunity when she was ready to serve the people as the highest constitutional authority.
When asked about the statements by TRS leaders calling their action unconstitutional, the Governor remarked, “Those who call it unconstitutional, they should first respect the Constitution.”
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