E. S. L. Narasimhan
Quick Facts
Biography
Ekkadu Srinivasan Lakshmi Narasimhan (born 1945) is a former bureaucrat who has been the Governor of Andhra Pradesh since December 2009. He assumed office as the Governor of Telangana on 2 June 2014. Previously he was Director of the Intelligence Bureau until 2006 and then Governor of Chhattisgarh from 2007 to 2010. He's also a contender for 2017 Presidential election.
Early life
Narasimhan was born in Tamil Nadu in 1945. After an initial two years schooling at Little Flower High School, Hyderabad, he completed his entire education from Chennai. Migrating from Physics to Political science, Shri Narasimhan is a gold medallist from the Madras Presidency College. He is also a graduate in Law from Madras Law College.
Career
Narasimhan belongs to the 1968 batch of IPS from Andhra Pradesh cadre. He served as the First Secretary in the Embassy of India in Moscow from 1981 to 1984. He is highly respected police official.
He worked in the Intelligence Bureau for many years until retiring as the director of the bureau on 31 December 2006. He is also an alumnus of the prestigious National Defence College, New Delhi.
Political career
On 19 January 2007, Narasimhan was appointed Governor of Chhattisgarh, and took office on 25 January. On 27 December 2009, he took additional charge as acting Governor of Andhra Pradesh, from Narayan Dutt Tiwari, who resigned after a sex scandal. On 23 January 2010, he was formally appointed to the governorship of Andhra Pradesh, upon leaving office in Chhattisgarh.
With the process for formation of a separate Telangana state entering crucial phase, Andhra Pradesh Governor E S L Narasimhan held a series of meeting with central leaders in the national capital on 23 October 2013. Summoned by the Centre for consultations before the efforts to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh are intensified, Narasimhan held separate meetings with United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde and Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram. Narasimhan first met Chidambaram, who is a member of the Group of Ministers (GoM) constituted to work out modalities for formation of the Telangana state. During the meeting, which lasted for 30 minutes, the governor is believed to have discussed various issues that may arise post-bifurcation.The governor later called on the UPA chairperson and briefed her on the latest situation in the state in the wake of the decision to carve Telangana state. He is learnt to have presented a report on the bifurcation issue.
The Telugu Desam Party has taken strong exception to Andhra Pradesh Governor ESL Narasimhan's meetings with Congress top leaders in New Delhi and questioned if it was part of his official duties. Leader of Opposition in AP Legislative Council and TDP politburo member Yanamala Ramakrishnudu criticised the governor for meeting AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh in New Delhi on Wednesday. "Why should the governor go to Digvijay's residence and brief him? Is it part of governor's official duties?", Yanamala questioned. He alleged the governor was "doing the rounds of Congress leaders' houses" carrying official files. "Is the governor going to decide the fate of 8.47 crore Telugu people?", Yanamala said.
During the controversial president rule from 1 May 2014 to 1 June 2014, he, as Governor of undivided AP, issued many extra constitutional government orders without having taken approval from the Parliament under article 356(1) or sanction of parliament under article 357(1) of the constitution. He took oath of office as state governor to preserve, protect and defend the constitution and the law.