The governors of West Bengal, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh championed greater autonomy at the gubernatorial level at a two day Governor’s conference, here on Saturday.

Speaking freely on present economic, law and order situation in the country, they said despite having the best universities in the country; it did not have an educational revolution. They also pointed out that governors are kept as Chancellors of University but are not even given the power to suggest the right nomination of Vice Chancellor.

The floor was left open for each governor to speak after the President's inaugural address in which she calls for a multi-pronged strategy to root out the menace of corruption hurting the common man the most.

The president extended the time to accommodate the three Governors to speak their mind and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh spent the whole day listening to them.

Singh was also seen taking notes when West Bengal Governor MK Narayanan and Andhra Pradesh Governor ESL Narasimhan spoke about the BPL and mentioned the need to strengthen the subsidies and freebies.  Karnataka Governor Hansraj Bharadwaj was critical of the state governments on ordinances and Lokayukta.

Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission, also agreed with their views on subsidies and freebies and that there is an educational degradation in Universities.