Tamilisai Soundararajan, the Governor of Telangana and also serving as the LG of Puducherry, has resigned from her post to focus on electoral politics once again.
Soundararajan submitted her resignation to President Draupadi Murumu on Monday, according to a statement from the Raj Bhavan in Hyderabad. This move comes just two days before the start of nominations for the Lok Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
Having led the BJP in Tamil Nadu during challenging times when no party formed an alliance with it, reports indicate that she will contest the Lok Sabha elections. It’s likely she will run from either Chennai (South) or Tirunelveli, Decan Herald reported.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Soundararajan lost to DMK’s Kanimozhi Karunanidhi by a significant margin from Thoothukudi in southern Tamil Nadu. Following this, she was appointed as the Governor of Telangana in September 2019.
In February 2021, she was additionally given the responsibility of LG of Puducherry after Kiran Bedi resigned. Despite her position, she spent most of her time in Puducherry rather than Hyderabad over the past three years.
Soundararajan, who comes from the influential Nagar community, joined the BJP in the 1990s despite opposition from her father, veteran Congressman Kumari Ananthan. She served with the BJP for over two decades before being appointed as Governor of Telangana.
It’s not uncommon for Governors to resign to enter politics. In 2019, Mizoram Governor Kummanam Rajasekharan resigned to contest against Congress’ Shashi Tharoor in Thiruvananthapuram but was unsuccessful in the polls.
