Narasimhan Dedicated Governor Of AP

E S L Narasimhan, the former sleuth who was Governor of Chattisgarh and was given additional charge of AP when incumbent N D Tiwari had to make an inglorious exit after being accused of sexually exploiting women employees of the Raj Bhavan in a sting operation by a Telugu TV Channel, will now handle exclusively AP's affairs. Shekhar Dutt, a former defence secretary of the Government of India, will be the new Governor of Chattisgarh.

Narasimhan, an IPS officer, retired from civil service as the chief of the Intelligence Bureau, and then started serving as the Governor of Chattisgarh, a Naxal-infected state also beset by human-rights-violation issues with its popularly elected government suspicious of anyone who speaks out about human rights abuses or sees merit in anything espoused by the maoists.

Narasimhan's appointment as the Governor of Chattisgarh was seen as an effort of the Union government to be directly involved in monitoring the affairs of the Maoist-infected state through a pro-active Governor experienced in intelligence affairs. And the same appears to be the case with his appointment as Governor of AP in these troubled times for our state.

Narasimhan has already been in the news for holding meetings directly with bureaucrats involved with security affairs, bypassing the usual channels. There has been resentment against him, particularly among those espousing the separate-statehood-for-Telangana cause, who would normally love a weak CM, and would consider a hands-on Governor as inimical to their agenda.

With an equally hands-on and strict DGP, Girish Kumar, running the police force, those pro-Telangana elements who are used to violating the law are not likely to see the happy times ahead that they got used to under a pliant CM wary of aggravating things. Hopefully for normal citizens of Hyderabad who just want to do work and business and lead a peaceful life, Narasimhan will be good news.