Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy has actually hit the street demanding the elimination of Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi as he camped in protest on a street close to her official residence for the third day in a trot. The intensification of the long-standing feud between the 2 governing authorities of the Union Territory comes months forward of the meeting election scheduled for May.
Accusing Ms Bedi of scuttling Puducherry’s improvement on the Centre’s behest and citing her “undemocratic style of functioning”, Mr Narayanasamy, who heads its Secular Democratic Front alliance authorities, started his protest on Friday. Sleeping on Anna Salai, a kilometre away from her residence, he has been joined by many others comparable to Puducherry Congress chief, ministerial colleagues, and MLAs. The CPM and CPI, too, have joined his protest.
Raj Nivas, the Lieutenant Governor’s official residence, is closely guarded by paramilitary forces. He was denied permission to hold out the protest close to there citing Covid-19 restrictions.
“This is a not a new demand. Even in 2019 December, we sat in dharna in front of the Raj Bhavan…for the recall of Dr Kiran Bedi,” Mr Narayanaswamy advised NDTV.
“Now it has peaked. She is now returning files, overruling the decision of the cabinet, overruling the decision of the minister. This is not the job of the Lieutenant Governor…she has no independent power or authority,” he stated. “She has no respect for law or constitution. She is the constitution herself.”
He cited examples such her alleged blocking of the federal government’s Pongal reward to the individuals, whereby, as an alternative of the Rs1,000 deliberate, solely Rs200 was allowed to be disbursed.
Mr Narayanasamy has appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take away Ms Bedi, saying she has been stalling welfare measures. He additionally accused the Prime Minister and Ms Bedi of conspiring to merge Puducherry with Tamil Nadu.
“Continuance of Dr Kiran Bedi here will hamper the growth and development of Puducherry. She is affecting the fundamental rights of the people of the state. It has been her attitude right from the beginning, even when she was Delhi police commissioner,” Mr Narayanasamy stated.
“Because it is a Congress-DMK government here, the Prime Minister is not taking any step. Therefore, we are doing this agitation in a peaceful manner…But she is afraid of facing us. When we sat on a dharna in 2019, she ran away to Delhi,” he stated.
Mr Narayanasamy has regularly clashed with Lieutenant Governor Bedi ever since she was appointed to the submit in 2016, significantly over administrative issues and the delineation of powers between the 2 workplaces.
Written By : Garima Arora