Hyderabad: Telangana State Chief Minister, K. Chandrasekhar Rao, on Sunday said there was no proposal with the Centre to accord special powers to the Governor on law and order in the common capital area of Hyderabad.
He said the state government had communicated twice to the Centre refusing to implement the special powers to the Governor, and there were no directions from Centre so far.
Mr Rao said that law and order comes under the purview of the state government and no state will accept the Centre’s interference in this regard. He made light of the recent letters sent by the Union home ministry on this issue.
“The content of these letters are nothing, but the powers accorded to the Governor, under Article 163 of the Constitution. They were just copied from there and sent. If special powers have to be accorded to the Governor, the Constitution needs to be amended. At present, such powers exist only in Arunachal Pradesh. The then UPA government was forced to incorporate the provision of powers to the Governor to pacify some Seemandhra leaders who opposed the bifurcation. There is nothing more to it,” Mr Rao said.
However, Mr Rao avoided a reply when reporters repeatedly asked him why the government raised a hue and cry if there was nothing new in the letters sent by the home ministry. He said Governor, E.S.L. Narasimhan, had powers equivalent to the Governor of any other state and nothing more than that.
Mr Rao said if the Centre again tries to create problems for Telangana State on this issue, the TS government would approach the Supreme Court and seek the support of other states.
