Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao met Governor Tamilsai Soundarajan at Raj Bhavan on Monday to apprise her about the Covid-19 situation in the state.

The Telangana CM has discussed the measures the government has been taking to contain the spread of the virus, testing and treatment being given to the Covid-19 patients in various government hospitals in the state. The CM’s meeting with Governor Tamisai Soundarajan, a gynecologist, comes in the wake of her displeasure over the state government’s response to the pandemic. This is the first time that the Chief Minister has met the Governor after resuming his duties from Pragathi Bhavan nearly two weeks after he moved to his farm house in Gajwel. The CM had moved to his farm house after at least 30 employees contracted the infection.

On several occasions, the Governor was openly critical of the government’s handling of Covid-19 situation in the state, patients being overcharged by private hospitals and lack of equipment in government hospitals. She criticised the government for not testing enough and advised the government to ramp up the testing in the state.

The Governor had visited the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS), where several doctors have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus, to show solidarity with the medical professionals. She took to her Twitter handle to directly reach out to people.

Last month, she called Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar and Special Chief Secretary (Health) Shanti Kumari to Raj Bhavan for a discussion on the pandemic situation in Telangana. The Governor’s public criticism over the state’s response to the pandemic did not go down too well with the Chief Minister. The Governor was former BJP national secretary and president of Tamil Nadu BJP unit.

The KCR government had come under sharp criticism from the Opposition parties. While opposition parties have accused the state government of not doing enough to contain the virus, the Telangana High Court has also made some observations on the government’s performance. With the swell of new coronavirus cases continuing in Telangana amid growing criticism over low testing, the High Court had pulled up the state government directing it to submit a detailed report on medical equipment provided to the frontline warriors. The court also asked the KCR government to increase corona testing by using Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) in view of rise in Covid-19 cases in the state.

With Telangana reporting 97 positive cases of corona, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao met Governor Dr Tamilsai Soundarajan on Wednesday at the Raj Bhavan to discuss the measures the government had initiated to contain and tackle the spread of corona virus in the state.

The Chief Minister was accompanied by state chief secretary Somasekhar and DGP Mahender Reddy. The Chief Minister discussed the situation arising out of the Nizamuddin religious congregation. He told the Governor that more than 1,000 people from the state had attended the religious congregation ‘Tablighi Jamaat’ in Markaz Masjid in South Delhi’s Nizamuddin area. Around six deaths were reported in Telangana, all of whom were people who attended religious congregation ‘Tablighi Jamaat’ in Markaz Masjid. Rao, it is learnt, told the Governor that more than 1,000 people from various parts of Telangana attended ‘Tablighi Jamaat’ and that the government could trace 800 people. The government, he said, has intensified its efforts to trace the remaining people who attended the ‘Tablighi Jamaat’ and also those who came in contact with the infected people. The Chief Minister, it is learnt, told the Governor that Telangana is witnessing a spike in the number of positive cases from the Nizamuddin event with several attendees from the state testing positive. The government officials are identifying people who attended the religious gathering and also those who came in contact with the infected people, he told the governor.

On March 29, the Telangana Governor has donated her salary for one month to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund as a token contribution towards controlling the spread of coronavirus. Soundararajan handed over a cheque of Rs.3.5 lakh to Principal Secretary, Disaster Management, M. Jagadeeshwar.

Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan in her maiden address to the joint session of the Telangana Legislature on Friday showered praises on Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao. She listed out the achievements of TRS government ever since it assumed office in the new state of Telangana in June 2014.

She said, “The greatest advantage for Telangana State is that the leader who led the separate statehood movement himself became the Chief Minister of the newly formed State and leading it from the front and getting marched towards the path of progress and development. The Telangana Society, which was destroyed in all the sectors during the united Andhra Pradesh rule, now under the visionary and dynamic leadership of Chief Minister Sri Kalvakuntla Chandrasekhar Rao has been moving forward with perfect planning, sincerity and commitment, ever since he took over the reigns of State six years ago. I have no doubt that this forward movement is yielding good results now.

The governor added, “After continuous and relentless struggle for six decades, the Telangana society could able to achieve a separate Statehood. The Telangana state achieved wonderful progress in several sectors and became number one State in the Country within a short span of time. This is something, I am sure we all should rejoice and feel proud of.”

She went on to say, “If we make a comparison of the situation that existed when the Telangana State was formed and now, the delightful achievements and success, the state achieved in such a short span of time is being observed with admiration by the entire country.”

She said Telangana faced crisis in each and every sector in Undivided Andhra Pradesh.

“Under these trials and tribulations, on 2nd June, 2014, the Telangana State started its journey, under the foresighted leader, who successfully spearheaded the separate statehood movement. Under the stewardship of Chief Minister Sri K. Chandrasekhar Rao, my Government after taking into consideration, its resources, facilities, needs, advantages, disadvantages, strengths and weaknesses, had prepared short-term, medium-term and long-term plans for the overall development of the State and thus launched State’s revitalization and rejuvenation process,” the governor remarked.

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao will finally meet Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan at Raj Bhavan today.

KCR, who used to visit Raj Bhavan almost every week when ESL Narasimhan was Governor, has been avoiding Raj Bhavan, ever since Tamilisai took over as Governor on September 9.

KCR visited Raj Bhavan only on September 9, when Tamilisai took oath as Governor.

It’s been more than two months and two weeks since KCR last visited Raj Bhavan.

This triggered reports that KCR is not happy with Tamilisai, who sees her as a BJP leader but not Governor.

KCR reportedly felt upset at Governor giving appointments to Opposition leaders almost every day to meet her and lodge complaints against him.

With this, KCR has been staying away from Raj Bhavan.

However, KCR has decided to meet Governor today around 3 pm.

KCR wants to brief Governor about the TSRTC strike, the proposed new Revenue Act to be brought by TRS government and upcoming winter session of Legislative Assembly.