Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Mar 18: Telangana Governor and Puducherry Lieutenant Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan on Monday tendered her resignation and sent the letter to the President Droupadi Murmu on Monday.
Sources close to her said she quit the gubernatorial post to contest the Lok Sabha elections as a BJP candidate either from Tamil Nadu or Puducherry.
A press communique from Raj Bhavan said: “The Hon’ble Governor of Telangana and Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry Dr Smt Tamilisai Soundararajan has tendered her resignation with immediate effect. The resignation has been submitted to the Hon’ble President of India.”
According to her schedule posted on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), the Governor was to see-off Prime Minister Narendra Modi at 10.00 a.m., who is in Telangana for Lok Sabha poll campaigning. She was also scheduled to attend another event in the afternoon. Sources, however, said Dr Tamilisai gave a send-off to the Prime Minister, who is scheduled to address an election rally in Jagtial, at the Raj Bhavan only and did not go to the Begumpet Airport.
The 62-year old Ms Soundararajan, who was a leader of the BJP’s Tamil Nadu unit before she was made the governor, was sworn in as the then-fledgling Telangana state’s second Governor in November 2019, and was given additional charge as Lieutenant-Governor of Puducherry in February 2021. She may contest Puducherry’s lone Lok Sabha seat, which is held by the Congress.
“I am happy that I am returning for the service of the people. I thank each and every one of Telangana. I am ever the sister of Telangana. I thank them for the love and affection,” she said. Sources said the BJP feels Ms Soundararajan may have greater connect with the people of Puducherry. There is also speculation she might be fielded from one of three seats in Tamil Nadu, including the Thoothukudi seat held by the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s Kanimozhi.
Ms Soundararajan had contested the 2019 election from this seat but was handily beaten. She also contested the Chennai (North) seat in 2009 and lost that as well; to TKS Elangovan of the DMK.
She also contested the Tamil Nadu Assembly thrice – from Radhapuram in 2006, Velachery in 2011, and Virugampakkam in 2016. She lost all three elections – the first to the DMK and the latter two to the BJP’s ex-allies, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK).
During her term as governor, Ms Soundararajan had several run-ins with the Telangana government when the Bharat Rashtra Samithi – whom she accused of not following protocol – was in power. In March last year the BRS went to the Supreme Court complaining – as other non-BJP state governments have of their Governors – of delays in clearing bills passed by the legislature.
In August Ms Soundararajan sparked a similar row after returning four bills, including one on state-run universities, public employment, and an amendment to the panchayat administration. Ms Soundararajan and former Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao have had several fierce fights over the past years, including the governor accusing the chief minister of illegally tapping her phone. “An undemocratic situation is there in the state…” she declared at a Hyderabad event.
Ahead of the Lok Sabha election, the BJP has been active in the south, where the party has struggled. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already made five visits to Tamil Nadu this year, where the BJP is without a major alliance partner.
Former allies AIADMK walked out in September last year after repeated attacks by the BJP’s state unit boss, K Annamalai, on past and present leaders of the former, including its founder and ex-Chief Minister MG Ramachandran and his mentor, CN Annadurai, who was the state’s first Chief Minister.
The AIADMK has refused the BJP’s advances so far, meaning the national party must contest all 39 Lok Sabha seats – in alliance with local parties – in a state in which it secured less than three per cent of the votes in the last election. The BJP is now looking to mount an aggressive campaign under Mr Annamalai’s leadership.
