Puducherry is witnessing a political turmoil as the clash between Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy and Lt Governor Kiran Bedi seems to be escalating further. The CM had accused Bedi of interfering in the functioning of the government.
On Wednesday, around 150 BJP workers were taken into custody after they tried to lay siege to the assembly. The protesters, led by BJP's Puducherry unit president V. Saminathan, flayed Speaker V. Vaithilingam for rejecting the nomination of three BJP members to the legislative assembly. The protesters also burnt an effigy of the chief minister.
The BJP workers were taken into custody when they tried to jump over the barricades installed near the government hospital. A case has been registered under Puducherry Police Act against the workers for burning the effigy of the CM.
Earlier, the Home Ministry had issued an order, appointing three party men as nominated legislators. Bedi had administered the oath of office to them at Raj Nivas on July 4. The ruling Congress opposed the move and slammed Bedi, saying the oath of office to the legislators should to be administered by the speaker.
The speaker had, on July 10, returned the files Bedi sent to him saying the nomination of the three members was not valid. He said it was not as per the assembly rules. “There was no communication to my office from the competent authority appointing the three members as nominated legislators,” Vaithilingam said while returning the files.
A day later, the governor left for Delhi to take part in the farewell ceremony of President Pranab Mukherjee. Since then, Narayanasamy and Vaithilingam too have been camping in Delhi.
It may be recalled that ever since Bedi assumed office, she has been having issues with the chief minister. While Bedi expressed unhappiness over the way the chief minister was running the government, he in turn accused her of interfering in the functioning of the government.
The Congress and the DMK leaders had observed a fast on July 7, protesting the nomination of the three members. The union territory also witnessed a bandh on July, demanding the removal of Bedi.
