Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan on Monday hit out at the state government for rewarding a legislator who 'insulted and humiliated' her.
Speaking at an event held at Raj Bhavan in connection with International Women's Day, the Governor targetted the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government headed by K. Chandrasekhar Rao.
She did not name anybody but it was apparent that she was referring to the appointment of Member of Legislative Council P. Kaushik Reddy as government whip in the Legislative Council.
"It's very disheartening. Even the woman holding the highest office has been ridiculed and humiliated. The highest office is insulted and humiliated and the person who humiliates the highest office is rewarded. That's the message they have given to the people of Telangana," she said.
"It's very very unfortunate. When a person throws stones on a woman, if we garland that person what message are we giving to the womanhood of Telangana," she asked.
"It's not me. I am with everyone. If a woman, if a girl child, if a person is suffering, I will be with them. When I am insulted so many women are with me. Thank you for that. Because you are all with me I am standing as a very strong person here," she told the participants.
Kaushik Reddy had made derogatory remarks against the governor for not giving assent to the bills sent to her for approval by the state government. He used foul language while commenting that the Governor was deliberately sitting on the bills.
On January 26, the video clip of Kaushik Reddy using the abusive word in Telugu went viral on social media.
He had made the remark amid a rift between the Governor and the state government over pending bills.
The differences between the BRS government and the governor had first cropped up in 2021 when she did not approve the Cabinet's recommendation to nominate Kaushik Reddy to the Legislative Council under the Governor's quota in social service category.
When the Governor delayed clearing the file, the BRS government sent Kaushik Reddy to the upper house under the Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) quota.
During her speech on Monday, the Governor also hit back at those trolling her. He told them to be decent and behave. "Don't keep pricking women. You don't know the strength of women," she said.
Tamilisai also took a dig at the state women ministers and officials who stayed away from the programme.
"When a celebration is planned, everyone should come together, that is our culture. We have to leave all differences and we should come together. Nowadays, that culture is vanishing. When an invitation is coming from one place, it is not seen in a transparent way. It's seen in a different way. They don't see the affections through the card, they see the possibility of defections which could happen," the governor said with a laugh.
She had been criticising the chief minister, ministers and others for not accepting her invitations for various programmes at Raj Bhavan on the occasion of festivals and other important occasions.