Obedient Tamilisai delivers amenable Governor’s address to Telangana legislature

HYDERABAD: Telangana Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan on Friday put at rest all the speculations by delivering her inaugural address to the members of Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council ahead of the Budget session, without any surprises. In what could be read as a sign of thaw in her relations with the State Government, the Governor diligently ran through the scripted speech like a ‘reformed-again’ student.

Contrary to the expectations of some fireworks, the Governor accomplished this quintessential constitutional and legislative obligation on a smooth note, unlike her Tamil Nadu counterpart R N Ravi who created a furore recently by deviating from the script.

This incidentally was the first address to the legislature by the Telangana Governor in two years. She could not deliver her customary speech last year amid a serious rift between Raj Bhavan and Pragathi Bhavan which lasted with the same intensity and bitterness until last week. A High Court intervention a few days ago brought an amicable end to the friction between the two sides.

Reflecting the same mood, the Governor gave a detailed account of the achievements of ‘her government’ with the help of a vast statistical wealth.

Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan said that Telangana had become a role model for the country due to the dedicated efforts of Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, able administration and the people of the state.

She listed out various welfare schemes and innovative measures taken up by the State Government to achieve all-round development in the last eight years of Telangana’s existence as a newly carved out state.

The Governor began her speech with the famous quote in Telugu of Telangana’s renowned revolutionary poet Kaloji Narayana Rao, “puttuka needi chaavu needi bathukantha desanidi” (Birth and death are one’s own but the life is for the country)

Dr Tamilisai said that there was a time when Telangana reeled under power cuts and languished in darkness. But the State Government was able to eradicate this problem by providing 24-hour power supply in the eight years since the birth of the State.

Thanks to the efforts of the Chief Minister, Telangana has earned the reputation of ‘the granary of India’, she said. Due to the initiatives of the State government, the cultivable crop area and foodgrain production has almost doubled in the state in the last eight years. She spoke at length of other flagship schemes of the K Chandrashekar Rao Government like Mission Kakatiya, Mission Bhagiratha, Rythu Bandhu, Rythu Beema, Dalit Bandhu, Aasara pensions, Kalyana Lakshmi and Shadi Mubarak,

She also claimed that Kaleswaram project, built in a record time of three and a half years, had grabbed the world’s attention. The Governor was happy to announce that Telangana had scripted history by reviving agriculture back to its heydays in the last eight years. Since a Separate Telangana was formed, the per capita income and capital expenditure by the State Government had doubled. She also paid compliments to KCR Government’s efforts in constantly attracting investments in business and industrial sectors with special reference to information technology.

Below is the full text of the Governor’s address in her own words: