VH vehement on Guv, seeks his ouster

New Delhi: Former Congress MP V Hanumantha Rao, in a letter to the Union Home Ministry here on Saturday, sought removal E S L Narasimhan as the Governor of the two Telugu States.

The point in question was the Governor's decision to administer oath of office to the members of legislature who defected from the Opposition to the ruling parties in both the States.

As an upholder of the Constitution, the Governor should have stopped the unconstitutional activity of the Chief Ministers of both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana N Chandrababu Naidu and K Chandrasekhar Rao respectively.

Instead, he preferred to hail both the Chief Ministers as path blazers and remarkable leaders ‘only to retain his job’, the senior Congress leader said.

The Centre should appoint fulltime Governors to both the States, he said, adding that no exception should be made for Narasimhan.

Listing out a series of incidents like defection of MLAs and MLCs in both the States from the Opposition to the ruling parties which should have forced the Governor to intervene, Hanumantha Rao said the Governor showed scant regard to the traditions of his high office.

Apart from political impropriety, the Governor never bothered to come to the rescue of various sections facing hardships due to the failure of the governments and instead was singing plaudits of the same.

Despite repeated appeals from several quarters against the Telangana government's move to remove the Dharna Chowk - the only democratic space available to the people - the Governor had not interfered in the matter, he added.

Even in the ongoing crisis of chilli farmers, the Governor did not deem it fit to intervene and stop arrests of farmers who were seeking remunerative prices for their produce, Hanumantha Rao mentioned in his letter.

“This Governor's only interest, other than continuing in the post, remains temple visits at the cost of the tax payer. If the Governor is so religious, then he should resign from the post and seek chairmanship of either TTD or Yadagirigutta or both. It would be better because he loves to spend his time in the ‘seva’ of the Lord and not in the ‘seva’ of the people,” he added.

Referring to the Governor’s defence that visiting temples was his personal choice, Rao said the Governor should keep in mind the fact that India was a secular country and any overt display of religion by those holding high offices was wrong.

“He is governing the States in between his frequent temple visits and has no time to preserve democratic norms and traditions or to come to the aid of the people in trouble,” he added.