Cong MP slams Puducherry Home Minister over failure to curb drug menace

The Puducherry Pradesh Congress Committee president V Vaithilingam on Thursday flayed the territorial Home Minister A Namassivayam for alleged failure to curb the drug menace in the union territory.

The Puducherry Pradesh Congress Committee president V Vaithilingam on Thursday flayed the territorial Home Minister A Namassivayam for alleged failure to curb the drug menace in the union territory. Addressing a virtual press conference, Vaithilingam, who is also the Lok Sabha Member from Puducherry, said the recent incident of murder of a minor girl in the union territory was 'proof of how drug peddlers can cause havoc under the influence of drugs.' Vaithilingam alleged that people who were friends of Namassivayam were indulging in the sale of narcotics in Puducherry and were also carrying on their activities with the connivance of the police. The PCC leader wanted Namassivayam, a BJP leader, to quit as Home Minister as he had ''miserably failed to rein in the activities of drug peddlers.'' Vaithilingam also disputed the claim of Lt Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan that there was a 'sharp decline in the drug menace and drug peddlers were punished in Puducherry. ''This claim of Soundararajan is a lie and the recent murder of the minor girl caused by drug addicts is proof of how the threat of insecurity was spreading in Puducherry,'' he alleged.

The Congress leader said parties affiliated to the INDIA alliance have called for a bandh in the Union Territory on Friday to condemn the ''miserable failure of the territorial government, particularly the Home Minister in reining in the activities of drug peddlers.''