Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan on Thursday alleged that the office of the gubernatorial post was "humiliated" by the state government and pointed to discrimination meted out to her as a "woman Governor". Soundararajan was interacting with the media on completing three years in office.
"When I took charge as the Governor of Telangana on the same day three years back, I really thought that I should be committed to the state... But, whatever may be the initiatives which I took forward to make it possible, it was not an easy job. Even the highest office (in the state) faced so many hurdles," she said.
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She cited the example of travelling by road for eight hours to attend the tribal festival of 'Sammakka-Sarakka Jatara' when the state government did not allegedly inform whether a helicopter as sought by her office was provided or not.
"But, whenever we wanted to reach out to people, definitely, I faced some hurdles... Every state writes its history. And (in the last) three years, the state will write a history on how a woman Governor is discriminated. But, that discrimination did not halt this Governor," she said. She said she does not want history to be written in a "negative way" about the Governor being treated badly.
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Soundararajan emphasised that she would not like to seek her rights only because she is a woman. Her idea is not to find fault with anybody but the high office of Governor should be respected, she said, adding that she should be informed if there is any problem.
She pointed to being denied the Governor's address to the Assembly, hoisting the flag on the Republic Day and protocol not being followed during her official visits. Though she does not want to talk about these issues, the people of Telangana should know the reality, Soundararajan said.
Claiming that the Governor's office was "humiliated", she gave the example of a customary 'At Home' reception hosted by her at Raj Bhavan. "If the highest elected representative is not coming, they should have informed us. First, they informed (that) they will come and there was no message from the office whether they are coming or not. The system should be followed," she said.
She also spoke about the problems faced by students at the Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies (RGUKT) where she had visited. Soundararajan has in the past spoken about alleged protocol violations during her official visits in the state.
(With PTI inputs)
