Telangana govt, Raj Bhavan set to spar over scrapped Governor's address

Differences between Telangana Governor and state govt came to the fore with Tamilisai Soundararajan be expressing distress over Governor's address to Budget session not being scheduled this year

Differences between the Telangana Governor and the TRS-led state government came to the fore on Saturday with Tamilisai Soundararajan appearing to be expressing disappointment over the customary Governor's address to the Budget session of legislature not being scheduled this year.

A statement to this effect issued by her was posted Saturday night on a Whatsapp group in which government press releases are shared daily by the state's information department officials, but it was deleted soon after.

Repeated attempts to contact Raj Bhavan's media relations officials to ascertain whether the statement was in force did not fructify. Messages sent were unanswered till late hours on Saturday.

It was not immediately clear whether Raj Bhavan media officials shared the statement with mediapersons in any manner.

"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," Soundararajan said in the statement.

The opposition BJP and Congress have earlier this week attacked the TRS government for not scheduling the customary Governor's address to the Budget session of legislature which begins on Monday next.

Taking exception to comments of BJP leaders, state Legislative Affairs Minister Vemula Prashanth Reddy has said the Governor's address is not taking place as the Budget Session is a continuation of the previous session which has not been prorogued.

Citing constitutional provisions, he said the Governor is supposed to address the Legislature when a new session takes place in a calendar year.

There have been instances in the past when the Governor's address did not feature in the session, he had said.