For the first time, Telangana governor Tamilisai Soundarrajan on Saturday expressed her anger at the Telangana government led by chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao for dropping the customary Governor’s address at the commencement of the state budget session, scheduled to begin on Monday.
In a statement late in the evening, the Governor said the state government had not followed the Constitutional convention of having the Governor’s address while commencing the budget session of the state legislature.
Tamilisai said the state government had avoided the Governor’s address citing a technical reason that it was not a new session of the year, but was only a continuation of the earlier session.
“The state legislature was meeting after a period of five months. Under normal circumstances, when the House is convened after such a long interval, it should have called 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,” she said.
Tamilisai reminded that the Governor’s address was not an address made by the office of the Governor but was a statement of the government in office.
“It is a report card of the activities and achievements of the government during the previous year and the policy indicatives for the ensuing year. It also provides the occasion for the members to hold meaningful discussion in the floor of the house about the administration and debate matters mentioned in the address,” she said.
She said the Governor’s address is an important instrument in the upholding the democratic principles of making the government responsible to the elected members.
She reminded that 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.
She recalled that the state government, while seeking her recommendation for introduction of Financial Bill had mentioned that the session would commence with the Governor’s address.
“Unfortunately, on clarification, it was stated that it was inadvertent. It is ironical that the note following democratic convention was stated as inadvertent,” she said.
The Governor, however, said she was respecting the Constitutional convention and going beyond political considerations.
“Keeping up the with spirit of Co-operative Federalism, I have conveyed my recommendation for introduction of the Financial Bill. Though I had the liberty to take my time to give my recommendation, I gave my recommendation without any time lag, since it involved the people’s welfare,” she said.
