Governor's Visit To Bhadrachalam Assumes Significance

Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan's proposed visit to the flood-hit areas in Bhadrachalam district on Sunday will be assuming significance amid the widening gap between Pragathi Bhavan and Raj Bhavan.

Soundararajan's decision on Saturday surprised many, especially given that it came a few hours after it was announced that Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao would be conducting an aerial survey of the flood-affected areas from Kadem Project in Nirmal district to Bhadrachalam on the Godavari river basin on Sunday.

Actually, Soundararajan was scheduled to visit New Delhi on Saturday, where she was to attend a dinner to be hosted by President Ram Nath Kovind. However, she cancelled her New Delhi trip and announced the tour of Bhadrachalam.

Soundararajan will travel by train from the Secunderabad railway station on Saturday night and will reach Bhadrachalam on Sunday morning.

During her visit, the Governor will interact with people of the flood-affected areas and enquire about the assistance being provided by the State government.

It is clearly a provocation to the CM. Differences cropped up between the Chief Minister and Governor over the nomination of TRS leader Padi Kaushik Reddy as MLC under the Governor's quota, and the tussle between them has been ongoing since then. After a gap of more than eight months, the CM recently called on the Governor at Raj Bhavan during the swearing in ceremony of newly-appointed High Court Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan. Both exchanged pleasantries and wished each other, signalling a possible thaw.

At this juncture, Soundararajan's visit now to Bhadrachalam on the same day as that of the CM's aerial survey in the flood-hit areas of Bhadrachalam has become a hot topic among political circles.