HYDERABAD: In a politically unprecedented development, Telangana State Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan on Wednesday, speaking in full glare of the media, said that she fears her “phones were being tapped by the TRS-led Telangana state government”. And, she added, as a result, her privacy was being interfered with.
The sensational allegation of illegal phone tapping of the first citizen of the state, the representative of the President in the state, came at a press conference at the Raj Bhavan Wednesday evening, where the Telangana Governor said that “an undemocratic situation” was prevailing in the state.
In an allegation with deep repercussions politically, and constitutionally, her statements about democracy in threat, particularly with regards to protocols of dealing with the Governor, threaten to further worsen the federal context, and indicate that no thaw is likely in the Union-state relationships.
Dr Tamilisai said that she has “doubts if my phones are being tapped,” and offered a tweet by the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti party’s official handle on Twitter ( @trsinnews), which on October 27 tweeted, linking the Raj Bhavan to the alleged TRS MLAs poach gate case. The tweet from @trsinnews also had a picture of the Governor.
“The tweet mentioned the name of my former ADC, Tushar (Major Tushar Bhasin) and the Raj Bhavan. My name was dragged into the issue on social media. The tweet was from the TRS official handle,” she said.
“My privacy is being interfered with. Why are they dragging my name in the case?” the Telangana Governor demanded to know. The name of Tushar was mentioned in the social media posts, and he called me to wish me for Deepavali as he was in town around that time (when the poachgate case came to light), she said.
To a question on whether she now thinks twice before picking up her phone and calling her friends, Dr Tamilisai, indicating to her phone a side table next to her seat, said, “I am not afraid of anything as everything I do is transparent. If they want they can check my phone, here it is.”
Incidentally, this is not the first of such allegations against the state government on phone tapping. Even Union minister G. Kishan Reddy had more than once during the campaign for the Munugode byelection said that phones of all opposition leaders were being tapped. Several other BJP leaders from the state too had levelled similar charges.
In the past, after a sensational audio tape was leaked, former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had also alleged that his phones, along with those of his minister, government officers and other key functionaries of his state government were being tapped. The face-off between the two governments accelerated the exit of the AP government from Hyderabad, which was declared to be a common capital for a decade.
Politically, allegations of phone tapping have always been highly contentious, and oftentimes, have led to huge political changes and tectonic shifts. The late Chandra Shekhar’s government fell after former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi alleged that his meetings and conversations were being snooped upon, leading to fresh Parliamentary elections.
Incidentally, the relationship between the Raj Bhavan and the state government, which has increasingly worsened over time, with both sides expressing deep displeasure with each other, seems to have nosedived beyond possibility of repair or reconciliation.
While the Governor has accused the state government earlier of being vindictive and unsupportive, of having violated the sanctimonious tradition of each Assembly session beginning with the Governor’s address, or not providing her protocol, security or facilities due to her, and of trying to censure and stop her from functioning smoothly and performing her duties; the ruling TRS party, which had cordial relationships with the previous Governor, accuses the Governor of behaving in a partisan manner, continuing in a way in her previous role of a fulltime BJP leader.
