Chennai: The choice of next governor for Tamil Nadu is building into a faceoff between Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and the Narendra Modi government, sources say.
K Rosaiah is retiring on August 31 and Jayalalithaa, according to reports, has already asked the Centre for one more term for him. But the BJP is pushing for DH Shankaramurthy — a party nominee from neighbouring Karnataka - which the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister has opposed citing strained relations over the Cauvery dispute.
Rosaiah has been one of the few Congress-appointed governors who survived the Modi wave. Along with him, Uttarakhand Governor K K Paul, J&K Governor N N Vohra, AP & Telangana Governor E S L Narasimhan and Lieutenant Governor of Delhi Najeeb Jung also managed to save their gubernatorial posts.
An excellent personal rapport with the unpredictable Amma worked to Rosaiah’s advantage and he was able to complete his full term. Rosaiah had become Andhra Pradesh chief minister in 2009 following YS Rajashekhara Reddy's death in a helicopter crash, but had to quit and make way for Kiran Kumar Reddy a year later. After a few months he was sent to Chennai Raj Bhawan as TN governor.
Rosaiah is a Congress veteran who has held important posts in both party and the AP government for over 40 years. But the BJP does not want to be seen as favouring a Congressman by giving him one more term, say party sources.
Interestingly, the political obligations and the rapport Jayalalithaa shares with Modi are coming in the way. The BJP high command does not want to rub her the wrong way by denying one more term to Rosaiah, and appointing Shankaramurthy. According to top BJP sources, the decision to send the veteran Karnataka BJP leader to Raj Bhawan in Guindy was taken a month ago and the government might change its decision after the latest developments.
According to a report in The Hindu, the grapevine in AIADMK circles is abuzz with the news that of late, Jayalalithaa is keen on having a woman as the governor. She favours someone like Anandiben Patel, who resigned as the Chief Minister of Gujarat earlier this month.
The appointment of a governor in Tamil Nadu has been a tricky issue for the Centre over the past 40 years. Both Dravidian parties, the DMK and AIADMK, have always preferred someone with whom they have a healthy rapport. The DMK’s choice Surjeet Singh Barnala was TN Governor twice and was in power for nine years. Justice Fatima Beevi had to quit over her alleged proximity to Jayalalithaa in early 2000s.
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