Rajnath's 1-hour meet with AP governor

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh met governor of Andhra Pradesh ESL Narasimhan for an hour on Friday in yet another attempt to bring about a thaw between the two warring states of Andhra and Telangana. Sources told Rediff.com that Rajnath Singh told the Narasimhan to explain Section 8 in the AP Bifurcation Act to both chief ministers.

The home minister was assisted by two joint secretaries of the Union Home Ministry to ensure there was no ambiguity in explaining Section 8. Singh also stressed that it was necessary to involve the Attorney General of India, Mukul Rohatgi in the exercise.

Officially, there has been no reaction from the Union Home Ministry, however Rediff.com has reliably learnt  that the entire responsibility to make Section 8 operational rests with the governor. Section 8 was passed by the Parliament and it is in the statue book and cannot be altered or interpreted differently. However, when the section should be put into practice remains at the discretion of the governor.

Sources close to Rajnath Singh explained that the governor was summoned as a routine exercise and the centre is not keen to disturb Narasimhan, which rests speculation in a section of the media that Najma Heptulla was to replace him.  

Rediff.com reported earlier that it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi who has entrusted the peacemaking process between the two chief ministers, N Chandrababu Naidu of Andhra Pradesh and K Chandrasekhar Rao of Telangana, to Governor ESL Narasimhan.

According to Section 8, the governor “shall extend to matters such as law and order, internal security and security of vital installations, and management and allocation of Government buildings in the common capital area. The governor shall, after consulting the Council of Ministers of the State of Telangana, exercise his individual judgment as to the action to be taken Provided that if any question arises whether any matter is or is not a matter as respects which the Governor is under this sub-section required to act in the exercise of his individual judgment, the decision of the Governor in his discretion shall be final, and the validity of anything done by the Governor shall not be called in question on the ground tha the ought or ought not to have acted in the exercise of his individual judgment."

Image: Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekara Rao