Andhra Pradesh Governor ESL Narsimhan administering oath of office to Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (Left) during the swearing-in ceremony at Raj Bhavan in Hyderabad on Monday.
Telangana Chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking him to rescind a directive from the Union home ministry to hand over charge of law and order in Hyderabad to the governor.
KCR wrote that he is gravely concerned about what he calls a ''most important constitutional issue of our federal structure.''
On Friday, the union home ministry had addressed a letter to the chief secretary, directing him to implement various norms to transfer powers of maintaining law and order in Hyderabad to the governor.
In his letter, KCR said the norms prescribed are intrusive and pointed out that according to the constitution, the governor has to act on the advice of the council of ministers. The letter was sent after chief secretary Rajeev Sharma met Governor E S L Narasimhan today.
KCR is also reportedly considering convening a meeting of chief ministers of states ruled by non-NDA parties to protest what he calls infringement of constitutional rights of the state.
KCR, who led the movement for a separate Telangana state and became its first chief minister in June, alleged that the Centre is trying to usurp powers of a democratically-elected government.
The letter sent from the home ministry prescribes that the governor would have powers to review law and order situation in Hyderabad, which was declared a joint capital of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
According to the directives from the home ministry, the governor will have powers to transfer top police officials. The letter also states that there will be a special cell to protect people of Andhra Pradesh living in Hyderabad, to deal with hate crimes, extortions and for the security of vital installations.