When governors spoke their mind and PM took notes

Governors of West Bengal, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh created a flutter in Governors' Conference on Saturday by speaking out their mind on the present law and order, economic and fiscal situation in the country.

Leading the flutter was West Bengal Governor MK Narayanan followed by Karnataka Governor HR Bharadwaj and Andhra Pradesh Governor ESL Narasimhan.

President Pratibha Patil, who inaugurated the meet, extended the conference time to accommodate the three governors to speak. And they spoke, without any notes, their mind.

The trio focused on the education in their states. "We have the best Universities. Why cannot we bring in a educational revolution in the country? Why are we kept as Chancellors of University when we do not have the power to suggest the right nominee for the post of Vice Chancellor?"

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was seen taking notes when MK Narayanan and ESL Narasimhan spoke on the issue of Below Poverty Line status and the need to strengthen subsidies and extend freebies.

Bharadwaj was too crictical of state governments on ordinances and Lokayukta.

On Saturday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh became a student, spending the whole day gathering gems of wisdom from governors assembled in the Rashtrapati Bhawan for the two-day conference.

He was seen attentively listening to various issues raised by the governors in their presentation, which included law and order, left-wing extremism, demand for revoking AFSPA, disruption of the governor's address in the state assemblies, states not implementing central schemes properly, appointment of vice-chancellors, menace of private colleges and farmers' deaths.

The floor was left open for each governor to speak after the President's inaugural address in which she called for a multi-pronged strategy to root out the menace of corruption hurting the common man the most. 

When the conference resumed the second day of its sitting on Sunday, the Prime Minister spoke out on the issues the governors raised and gave his own view points on each of them, seeking their cooperation in removing the wrong impression of the strains in the Centre-State relations whenever a governor takes a decision.