Hyderabad: The Congress party on Friday urged Governor of Telangana Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan to use her discretionary powers and submit a report to President of India Ramnath Kovind on the mishandling of Covid-19 situation by TRS Government.
“It is highly unfortunate that the State Government, headed by Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao, did not respond to the suggestions given by the Governor in handling the Covid-19 situation in Telangana State. However, instead of expressing helplessness, the Governor must utilize her discretionary powers and submit a report to the President seeking action against the State Government for its inept handling of the Covid-19 situation,” Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) Treasurer Gudur Narayana Reddy said in a media statement on Friday.
Reddy said that the Governor herself has admitted that the State Government has denied people the right to get tested for Covid-19. In such a scenario, the Governor should’ve summoned the Chief Secretary and ordered him to act on her suggestions. As the Governor of Telangana, Dr. Soundararajan enjoys enormous powers which she never exercised. Instead of complaining about the inefficiency of the State Government, the Governor should’ve played a proactive role by getting her suggestions implemented through top officials, he said.
Further, Congress urged the Governor to make public the letters she wrote to the State Government giving suggestions on the Covid-19 situation. He said people have a right to know what was suggested by the Governor and why the State Government did not act on those suggestions.
The Congress leader also condemned the statements made by a few TRS leaders targeting the Governor for her serious remarks. “Some TRS leaders have crossed all limits of decency in criticizing the Governor. Instead of making personal remarks, the ruling party leaders must have answered the questions raised by the Governor who is also the Constitutional head of the State,” he said.
He also condemned both TRS and BJP leaders for trying to turn the Governor’s remarks into a TRS-BJP tussle.
Narayana Reddy said that both TRS and BJP leaders were engaging in blame games to divert people’s attention from the failures of both the Central and State governments. He said that both BJP Govt at the Centre and TRS Govt in Telangana have failed to control the spread of Covid-19 and they focussed on managing or manipulating the numbers instead of actually controlling the disease. They imposed the lockdown in an unplanned manner and failed to mobilize the required health infrastructure to deal with the situation.
Consequently, lakhs of people got infected and thousands died primarily due to the negligent attitude of BJP Govt at the Centre and TRS Govt in Telangana, he said.
“The Telangana unit of BJP criticizes the TRS Government for its failures, but some Central Ministers and members of NITI Aayog issue statements praising the KCR Govt. While TRS leaders accuse the Central Government of denying Telangana its share in Central funds, CM KCR always praises Prime Minister Narender Modi and never raises a complaint during the video-conference. Therefore, the TRS-BJP blame game is just an eyewash aimed at diverting people’s attention,” he alleged.
