For the first time in the state's 50-year history, the Andhra Pradesh chief minister took the salute instead of the governor at the ceremonial Republic Day parade in Hyderabad.
This unprecedented change in protocol was necessitated by the absence of a full-time Governor for the state. Orissa Governor Rameshwar Thakur, who is holding additional charge of Andhra Pradesh, could not be present in Hyderabad as he had to attend the Republic Day parade at Bhubaneshwar.
Consequently, state Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhar Reddy was permitted to hoist the national flag and take the salute at the Republic Day parade at the Parade Grounds in Secunderabad.
Making another departure from the tradition, Reddy delivered the Republic Day address in Telugu. The Governors used to deliver the address in English language. The chief minister was visibly elated at the "double honour" of presiding over Independence Day and Republic Day parades even as the officials and audience were amused to watch this 'protocol-breaking' ceremony.
In the state's five-decade-long chequered history, a score of eminent personalities held the gubernatorial post. Four of them were officiating governors. While two chief justices of AP High Court -- Justice S Obul Reddy and Justice B J Diwan -- officiated as acting governors in the absence of full-time appointees, two Orissa governors Gopala Ramanujam and Rameshwar Thakur held additional charge as AP governors.
On January 26, 1975, the acting governor Obul Reddy took the salute at the Republic Day parade. Incidentally, Obul Reddy had the longest tenure of one year as 'acting' governor. Diwan had a brief tenure of three months during February-May 1977. Ramanujam, too, served for a brief while from August 22 to November 23 1997.
Three days after the Republic Day last year, Sushil Kumar Shinde quit as AP governor on his induction into the Union cabinet. Rameshwar Thakur was given additional charge of the state on January 29, 2006. The 80-year-old Rameshwar Thakur has been frequently making trips to Hyderabad in the last one year. In fact, he has given clear indications that he would prefer to stay in Hyderabad rather than go back to Bhubaneshwar.
However, the UPA government has preferred to maintain the status quo. It has neither transferred Ramesh Thakur to Hyderabad to keep full-time charge nor appointed a full-time governor for Andhra Pradesh, with the result that this piquant situation arose for the first time wherein a chief minister has presided over Republic Day function.
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