Telangana Governor Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan has resigned from her post on Monday. She submitted her resignation letter to President Droupad Murmu. Reports suggest that she is likely to contest on a BJP ticket in the Lok Sabha elections from Chennai South, Tamil Nadu.
Dr. Soundararajan is anticipated to be included in the BJP’s forthcoming list of candidates for the Lok Sabha elections. Dr. Soundararajan, 62, was sworn in as the then-fledgling state’s second Governor in November 2019 and was given additional charge as Lieutenant-Governor of Puducherry in February 2021.
Sources said she might re-join the BJP and be fielded from any one of three Lok Sabha constituencies in Tamil Nadu, including the Thoothukudi seat currently held by the ruling DMK’s Kanimozhi.
Dr. Soundararajan contested the 2019 election from this seat but was handily beaten. She also contested the Chennai (North) seat in 2009 and lost that as well, to TKS Elangovan of the DMK.
A gynaecologist by profession, she entered politics with the BJP in 1999. She played a key role in the spread of the BJP in Tamil Nadu as its state general secretary, national secretary, and state president.
According to sources, Dr. Tamilisai took the decision after informing Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had stayed put at the Raj Bhavan on Saturday night. She expressed her desire to return to active politics by fighting the Lok Sabha elections.
Earlier in February, she expressed her desire to contest the Lok Sabha elections from Puducherry but said it was up to Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah to decide her role. “My desire is to be a people’s representative, but I will abide by the decision of the Prime Minister and the Home Minister.”
Dr. Tamilisai had made these comments with the media in Puducherry on the completion of her three-year term as the lieutenant governor. She said she would prefer Puducherry, as she always felt it was her hometown.
