Governor meets Rajnath Singh, discusses household survey

Amidst controversy over the holding of the household survey in Telangana, Governor ESL Narasimhan today met Home Minister Rajnath Singh and briefed him about the situation in the state, particularly in Hyderabad.

Singh was apprised by Narasimhan of the law and order situation in Telangana and the steps taken by the state government to allay apprehensions among the people regarding the Intensive Household Survey, which was conducted yesterday to collect data on an estimated 84 lakh families living in the newly-created state.

The Centre is seized of the matter and keeping a close eye on the situation arising out of the holding of the survey as it has raised suspicions among the Seemandhra-origin people, official sources said.

The Centre expects that the situation in Telangana, particularly in Hyderabad, where tension is high, will calm down and no violent incident will take place, but may intervene if there was any need, they added.

They said that during the 20-minute meeting, Narasimhan and Singh also discussed the issue of the Telangana government's defiance to a central government directive regarding special powers vested with the governor concerning law and order in Hyderabad.

The governor and the home minister are said to have discussed the ways to avoid confrontation between the Centre and the Telangana government on such issues.

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has dubbed the home ministry order as a "fascist act" and dashed off a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking him to rescind it.

Madhya Pradesh Governor Ram Naresh Yadav and Odisha Governor SC Jamir also separately met the home minister today and discussed with him various issues concerning their states.