HYDERABAD: In an indication of a possible confrontation in the making with the state government, Telangana governor Tamilisai Soundararajan has confirmed keeping on hold the state cabinet's decision recommending the appointment of Padi Kaushik Reddy for nomination as MLC from the governor's quota.
In reply to a question at a media interaction on Wednesday, she said: "The cabinet approved his appointment and sent the file to me. I am studying it. I may need more time. In the governor's quota, those who have distinguished themselves in areas like arts or service or science are recommended to the council. Anyway, I am studying it and after that, I will take a decision."
She released a coffee table book "One Among and Amongst the People" that chronicled her initiatives and activities during her two years as the Governor of Telangana.
Asked if she would keep the file on the backburner till the Huzurabad byelection was over, she just smiled. However, she indirectly let her opposition to Kaushik Reddy's appointment be known when asked why she was holding the file back though she had given assent readily to Goreti Venkanna who also was sent to the council under the governor's quota.
She said, "Venkanna's case is different. He is a literary figure," implying that Kaushik Reddy does not fit the bill as he is just a politician who had defected to the TRS only recently from the Congress. She did not answer when asked if she was emulating her Maharashtra counterpart who kept on hold the recommendation of the state cabinet for the appointment of 12 persons as MLCs.
The Telangana governor, however, denied that she was on a collision course with the state government and said her relations with Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao were very cordial. She said that KCR, after she prevailed on him, had implemented the central government's Ayushman Bharat, to which he was opposed in the beginning. In fact, KCR and officials too were receptive to her several suggestions which were meant for the larger good of the people of the state.
"I have no ego at all. I am not against the government or its policies. I am here to ensure checks and balances are maintained. I have affection for Telangana. I took my first COVID-19 vaccine in Puducherry and the second one in Hyderabad," she said, adding, "I am a gynecologist and a governor. I can give advice to the state government which I have been doing whenever necessary," she said and described Telangana as one of her two children, the other being Puducherry where she is discharging the duties of the lieutenant governor.
"I am the youngest governor in the country and Telangana is the youngest state. As a gynecologist, I want to nurse the state so that it could grow at a rapid pace. I want Telangana and Puducherry to prosper. I will lend my advice on improving medical infrastructure in the state," she said and wanted to be known not as the first citizen of the state but as one among the teeming millions. "I am always with them and will be in their midst," she said and announced that before long she would organise praja darbars to learn the problems of the people first hand. "I will not ask them to come to me. In fact, I want to go to them. I will visit tribal areas too which I could not, so far because of the pandemic," she said.
In reply to another question, she said that she did not want any inconvenience caused to the people because of her frequent movement in the city. "I read media reports before coming here how my predecessor used to visit a temple near Khairatabad junction every day. I will not do that. In fact, I have a small idol on the premises of Raj Bhavan where I pray," she said.