Governor Tamilisai courts controversy by visiting IIIT-Basar

BASAR: Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, chancellor of the Rajiv Gandhi University for Knowledge Technologies (RGUKT) in Basar apparently broke the convention and walked into the eye of a storm by making a personal visit.

The Governor voluntarily threw the convention aside and stepped into the campus, much to the chagrin of the State Government.

Already, the Governor has courted controversy by 'encouraging' some agitating students to call on her at Raj Bhavan . "Buoyed" by the 'act of kindness' of the Governor, the students applied for leave citing flimsy reasons and went to Raj Bhavan and called on Dr Tamilisai, albeit, "unofficially" on the "sly".

The Telangana Governor said that she came to Basar 'like a mother' to personally find out the problems of the IIIT students.

The governor embarked on the visit to the temple town in the wake of protests by students of the IIIT for quite some time now. As part of her tour, she first visited the famous Basar temple and had a darshan of Goddess Saraswati, the presiding deity.

The temple priests accorded her a traditional welcome with the 'poornakumbham' before performing special rituals like 'kunkuma puja' (vermilion offering) and 'maha harathi'. Temple Executive Officer Somaiah felicitated the Governor on this occasion before offering her the sacred 'prasadam'.

Later, the Governor went to the IIIT campus and interacted with the students. Speaking on this occasion, Tamilisai Soundararajan said that she was here to take a first-hand look at the issues faced by the IIIT students. She claimed that parents of several students had complained to her about the prevailing situation in the premier institute. She said that she would try to resolve the students' problems by speaking to them directly.

Meanwhile, the local police prohibited the media from entering the IIIT campus in view of the governor's visit.

The students of the IIIT here, officially known as Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies (RGUKT), are on a warpath for a long time demanding resolution for a host of issues confronting them. One of the most significant demands is the appointment of a permanent Vice-Chancellor for the university.