Telangana Governor and Puducherry Lieutenant-Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan has tendered her resignation from both positions, sources confirmed on Monday. It is speculated that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader from Tamil Nadu, Soundararajan, is poised to enter the electoral fray in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Reportedly, the 62-year-old leader is eyeing a candidacy from the Chennai South constituency in Tamil Nadu, a seat with considerable significance in the upcoming high-stakes polls.
Soundararajan assumed office as the second Governor of Telangana in November 2019, and later took on the additional responsibility as lieutenant governor of Puducherry in February 2021.
Her resignation from the post of Telangana Governor coincides with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s scheduled public address in the state at Jagital.
According to sources cited in an NDTV report, Soundararajan contested the Lok Sabha elections in 2019 from Tamil Nadu’s Thoothukudi constituency, which is currently held by the ruling DMK’s Kanimozhi.
Previously, in 2009, she contested the Chennai (North) seat but lost to TKS Elangovan of the DMK.
Soundararajan has also made attempts in Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, contesting from Radhapuram in 2006, Velachery in 2011, and Virugampakkam in 2016, yet faced defeat in all three instances.
The speculations surrounding Soundararajan’s potential candidacy in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections emerge just a day after the Election Commission of India announced the schedule for the polls. The elections are scheduled to be held in seven phases, starting from April 19 and concluding on June 1.
