Narayanasamy meets Prez; seeks recall of Pondy Lt Governor

Puducherry Chief Minister VNarayanasamy on Wednesday met President Ram Nath Kovind hereand urged him to recall Lt Governor Kiran Bedi for her allegedinterference in the administration in the union territory.

Besides, he also flagged her 'impeding' theimplementation of various proposals of the elected government.

The chief minister, who has been at odds with Bedi over anumber of issues concerning the UT for long, told PTI he hadpresented a memorandum containing the various schemesallegedly impeded by Bedi.

He had a half an hour meeting with the President.

Narayansamy also handed over to Kovind the signaturescollected from the public by the ruling Congress led SecularDemocratic Alliance during the last few weeks requesting theCentre to replace Bedi.

The chief minister said he was accompanied by the LokSabha member from Puducherry V Vaithilingam and his cabinetcolleagues M Kandasamy and Malladi Krishna Rao.

He said among other things, he had brought to the noticeof the President the 'interference' by the LG in theimplementation of the free rice scheme as decided by hisgovernment.

''The proposal of the government to introduce 10 percentquota for students from government schools and holding NEETcertificates intending to do medical education had also beenfacing hurdles as the Lt Governor to whom the proposal wassent had forwarded it to the Centre'', he said.

Addressing reporters after meeting Kovind, Narayanasamysaid he had submitted to the President the documentscontaining one lakh signatures collected from the people bythe ruling dispensation for the recall of Bedi.

The Lt Governor had issued 'arbitrary' orders to closethe government owned AFT mill, Swadeshi Cotton mills andBharathi Mill in the union territory, he added.

The territorial government was facing difficulty indisposing off the land belonging to the AFT mill there as itintended to use the sale proceeds to pay the workers there.

''The Lt Governor had also declined to bring down theCovid Tax (imposed on liquor products) and the government feltfor the need for the reduction in the tax as the incidence ofthe pandemic had fallen in Puducherry'', the CM added.

He also said he had apprised the President of thehardships faced by the people because of the continuation ofthe barricades in a radius of 500 metres from Raj nivas(office cum residence of Lt Governor).

''People are not able to move about following thedeployment of Central reserve police forces although normalcyhad returned here'', he said.

The security there was earlier stepped up in the wakeof a dharna undertaken by the ruling party against Bedi in thewake of her consistent face-off with the government.

The SDA had staged a four day agitation in the UT fromJanuary 8, demanding recall of Bedi, besides going on aday-long hunger strike on February 5 on the issue.

Bedi, a former IPS officer, and Narayanasamy have been atloggerheads over various issues ever since she was appointedthe Lt Governor in May 2016, with the ruling Congress accusingher of going against the decisions of the government.

The Congress had in December, 2019 written to PresidentKovind seeking the recall of Bedi, who has maintained thatbeing the Administrator of the Union Territory she was onlydischarging her duties as per law.