Change in venue for Congress-led dharna against Lt Governor

(EDS: RPT after recasting para-1; adding AIADMKleader's statement) Puducherry, Jan 7 (PTI): The ruling Congress-ledSecular Democratic Alliance has changed the venue here forits January 8 dharna to seek the recall of LieutenantGovernor Kiran Bedi.

The venue is Maraimalai Adigal Salai instead of at theRaj Nivas, PCC president A V Subramanian said in a pressrelease.

The dharna would be held for four days from January 8to 11 to seek replacement of Kiran Bedi as the LieutenantGovernor because she has allegedly been hindering theimplementation of welfare measures proposed by the Congressgovernment here.

Police sources said permission was denied to theorganisers of the agitationat Raj Nivas as no agitation ispermitted within 500 metres radius as per the regulatoryorder the District Collector Purva Garg had issued onWednesday.

Subramanian called upon all sections of the rulingCongress to participate on a massive scale in the dharnawhich would be held between the Venkatasubba Reddiar statueand the Annadurai statue on Maraimalai Adigal Salai.

Chief Minister V Narayanasamy, his cabinet colleagues,legislators of the ruling Congress and leaders and workers ofthe alliance parties would participate in the dharna.

Already, the Chief Minister had mobilised people`s supportand participation in the dharna through his constituency-wisecampaigns over the last few days.

This is the second time the Chief Minister, along with theministers and legislators and representatives of allianceparties, would hold the dharna. He held the first in February2019.

The issues projected in the previous agitation weredifferent as the Chief Minister and others had then soughtclearance of the proposals of the government for reopeningclosed sugar mills and other units besides implementation ofthe free rice scheme.

The dharna planned for January 8 is to focus on the demandof the Congress and its allies that the ''Lieutenant Governorshould quit Puducherry'' and to demand statehood for the UnionTerritory, a source in the Congress party told PTI.

To maintain law and order during the dharna, thegovernment had procured three companies of Central ArmedPolice Force and the Central Industrial and Security forcewho have been already deployed at vantage points, includingoutside the Raj Nivas.

Meanwhile, the Opposition AIADMK questioned the proprietyof Narayanasamy being a participant in the dharna.

The AIADMK legislature party leader A Anbalagan said in apress release that the Congress government in Puducherry,which was installed in office with the support of the DMKfrom outside, has failed the people on several counts asthere was no proper planning and execution of schemes.

Instead of meeting the expectations of the people,Narayanasamy was pinning the blame on Lt Governor, the AIADMKleader said..