CM justifies walkout during 'At Home'; not private event: Bedi

Chief Minister of Puducherry V Narayanasamy on Monday hit out at Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi for "breaching conventions and customs" while holding the 'At Home' reception at Raj Nivas on Republic Day, while Bedi said it was not a private event but one of national sanctity. Talking to reporters here, the Chief Minister said he and his cabinet colleagues, Speaker and Member of Parliament responded to the invitation for the reception as "it is our democratic duty to attend." He further said, "We, however, walked out of the venue after attending the function for a few minutes as we could not brook the violation of conventions by the Lieutenant Governor in holding the reception." He said Bedi has no authority to distribute certificates to officers in recognition of their performance in redressing public grievances at the reception without formally informing him and the minister concerned.

Narayanasamy said, "Although we are happy that two persons Manoj Das and V K Munusamy from Puducherry had been selected for Padma awards by the Centre, this should have been informed to the territorial Ministry that the two awardees would be honoured by the Lieutenant Governor at the reception." A separate function to honour the Padma awardees should have been organised and Bedi should not have clubbed the honouring of the awardees with the tea party at the Raj Nivas, he said, adding: "We were kept in the dark about the decisions of the Lieutenant Governor to distribute certificates to two officers - director of Education Rudra Goud and Collector of Karaikal Vikranth Raja - and to felicitate the Padma awardees. Also, he questioned holding of cultural programmes presented by teams from Jammu and Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh at the reception as such "events normally do not take place during a reception of this kind." Besides, the Chief Minister charged the Lieutenant Governor with "going her own way without keeping the government informed of her programmes." "Bedi does not know the nuances of administration and also procedures to be adopted for such occasions like 'At Home' reception," he added.

Reacting to the charges, Bedi said in her whatsapp message that the reception was not a private event but an event of national sanctity. She said, "As was suggested by the President of India, the 'At Home' reception was made more diverse and inclusive with an element of celebration and recognition." She thanked the Union Art and Culture Ministryfor sending the artistes from Jammu and Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh to perform cultural programmes here.

"We, however, regret the behaviour of our elected representatives towards ignoring them (visiting teams) and also disrespecting the winners of Padma awards by refusing to appreciate their presence," she said. When this was brought to his attention by media persons, the Chief Minister said, "It is the Lieutenant Governor who should express regret and apologise to him as she had organised the programmes without giving prior information to him." PTI COR NVG NVG.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)