Even as the BRS fretted, Union Tourism Minister and Telangana BJP president G Kishan Reddy welcomed the decision and called it "bold".
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao speaks after inaugurating mosque on Friday, 25 August. Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan and AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi are also seen. (Telangama CMO/X)
Administering a rude jolt to the BRS government, Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan on Monday, 25 September, rejected the Cabinet recommendations for the appointment of Dr Dasoju Sravan and Kurra Satyanarayana as Members of the Legislative Council, or MLCs, under the Governor’s quota.
The unsavoury development came at a time when the BRS was beginning to feel as if tensions were easing between Raj Bhavan and Pragati Bhavan, the party headquarters in Hyderabad.
The party leaders felt that there was a thaw in the frosty relations when the Governor visited the state Secretariat on 25 August and inaugurated three paces of worship — a temple, a mosque, and a church — on its premises.
There was much bonhomie on show as Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao took Governor Soundararajan on a tour of the entire Secretariat building and explained its features to her.
But the feeling of comfort did not last very long when she sent back the files to the government, quoting profusely various Acts and Sections to establish the point that both Sravan Kumar and Satyanarayana were ineligible to be appointed as MLCs under the Governor’s quota.
She said that both were active in politics and that there was no evidence to indicate that they had achievements to their credit either in literature, science, art, the cooperative movement, or social service.
She said that, apparently, the pre-conditions required under Article 171(5) of the Constitution for appointing them under the Governor’s quota were not met.
Except for the summary attached to the recommendations, no other details or documents for nomination as an MLC were enclosed, according to the Governor.
There were no reports either from the intelligence or other agencies indicating that they did not incur disqualification under sections 8 to 11(A) of the Representation of the People’s Act, 1951, she added.
The Governor said that the entire file, along with relevant records and the criteria required by the Constitution and the note file submitted to the Cabinet and the chief minister, were not enclosed along with the recommendations.
Just a summary without any documentation would not be enough for her to nominate them to the Council under the Governor’s quota, she said.
The Governor said that there were several eminent non-politically affiliated people fulfilling the eligibility criteria prescribed under Article 171(A) of the Constitution.
“Filling these posts with people of political orientation will be doing a disservice to the experts in various fields for which the Governor’s quota is set apart. It would be a negation of the provision in the Constitution,” she said.
The Governor requested the Cabinet and the chief minister to avoid recommending politically-aligned persons to the council under the Governor’s quota as it would defeat the objectives enshrined under Article 171(5) of the Constitution.
Reacting sharply to the Governor’s decision, Legislative Affairs Minister Vemula Prashanth Reddy tried to turn the tables against her by questioning her eligibility to become the Governor of Telangana.
She was Tamil Nadu BJP state president before she was appointed as the Governor of of the state.
He said, according to Sarkaria Commission recommendations, Tamilisai Soundararajan could not be considered for the appointment as the Governor of a state.
He insisted that Sravan Kumar and Satyanarayana were more than eligible to be appointed as MLCs under the Governor’s quota.
In the past, the Governor had ruffled the feathers of the BRS government when she rejected the recommendation of the Cabinet to appoint Padi Kaushik Reddy under the Governor’s quota to the Council.
Following that, the government had to send him formally to the Council through the MLAs’ quota.
In her four years in office as the Governor of Telangana, Soundararajan had rubbed the state government on the wrong side several times.
She had kept several bills passed by the Assembly pending for one reason or the other. She did not give her assent easily to the bill relating to taking TSRTC employees on government rolls.
She put her seal of approval only after satisfying herself that all her recommendations were incorporated in the bill.
Meanwhile, Union Tourism Minister and Telangana BJP president G Kishan Reddy on Monday welcomed the decision taken by Soundararajan.
Speaking to reporters in Hyderabad, he termed the Governor’s decision “bold” and thanked her on behalf of the people of the state.
Intellectuals, educated people, poets, artists, and social workers should be given preference under the Governor and President’s quotas for MLC posts, he noted.
“It is known that when Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao sent the proposals to appoint people with many criminal cases as MLCs, the Governor rejected them. There is no need for those who render service to the family of the chief minister to be nominated as MLCs,” he said.
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