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Signalling a potential return to electoral politics, Tamilisai Soundararajan, the Governor of Telangana and Lieutenant-Governor (L-G) of Puducherry, tendered her resignation Monday. An official statement from her office confirmed that she had submitted her resignation to the President of India, amid reliable reports from the BJP leadership that she might contest from the largely urban Chennai South constituency in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
If the BJP picks her, it would be overlooking the claims of three other leaders who are eyeing the same seat for its traditional Hindu votebank.
The daughter of former state Congress chief Kumari Ananthan, Soundararajan has been an influential figure in the BJP for over a decade, diverging from her familial political lineage.
In her political career with the BJP spanning over two decades, Soundararajan has held important electoral and administrative posts. However, her appointment as the Tamil Nadu BJP chief in 2014 — with Amit Shah’s brief to “develop the party’s base outside the Hindi heartland” — had surprised many.
The distinct advantage Soundararajan is believed to have had over other BJP leaders in the state was her proximity to the top leadership. Back in 2011, she had referred to Narendra Modi as “the next PM”, from the stage of the Sadbhavana Yatra in Ahmedabad. BJP sources said her comparison of Modi with the late Tamil cinema matinee idol and Tamil Nadu CM, M G Ramachandran, went down well with the then Gujarat chief minister.
Soundarajan went on later to write a memoir, Narendra Modi and Memorable Tea Moments, about her meetings with Modi.
She was made the Governor of Telangana in September 2019, after a string of electoral defeats, including in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Thoothukudi by a huge margin to the DMK’s Kanimozhi. However, all her losses — whether while fighting Lok Sabha polls in 2009, or Assembly polls in 2006, 2011 and 2016 — were tough fights, with the BJP only a marginal player in Tamil Nadu.
Midway into her tenure as Telangana Governor, she was given additional responsibility of L-G of Puducherry in February 2021, replacing Kiran Bedi.
Known to retain her composure and for her non-confrontational approach to politics, Soundarajan had her share of controversies in the Telangana Raj Bhavan, like other governors in Opposition-ruled parties under the Modi government.
Tensions between Governor Soundararajan and the former Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government led by K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) had spiked between September and November 2022, particularly over issues of protocol and authority. In September 2022, she had accused the BRS government of disrespecting her office, highlighting incidents like being prevented from hoisting the national flag and the absence of official receptions during her visits.
Her handling of the Telangana Universities Common Recruitment Board Bill, 2022 — which she delayed signing — also led to criticism from state education officials.
The conflict escalated when she began holding ‘praja darbars’ to directly address citizens’ grievances, bypassing the state government, which in turn accused her of political bias, and of attempts at undermining the elected government. The issue peaked with disputes over appointments and official communications, when Soundararajan alleged lack of cooperation by the state’s ministers and officials.
