Narayanasamy to meet President to seek recall of Kiran Bedi

Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy will meet President to seek recall of Lt Governor Kiran Bedi. The chief minister will be accompanied by Welfare Minister M Kandasamy, Health Minister Malladi Krishna Rao and lone member from Puducherry in Lok Sabha V Vaithilingam.

Puducherry: Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy on Tuesday left for Delhi, accompanied by a three-member delegation, to meet the President to seek recall of Lt Governor Kiran Bedi, for allegedly impeding the implementation of various decisions of the elected government here.

The CM was accompanied by Welfare Minister M Kandasamy, Health Minister Malladi Krishna Rao and a lone member from Puducherry in Lok Sabha V Vaithilingam, sources said.

They left for the national capital from Chennai.

The delegation, the sources said, would submit documents containing signatures collected from the people in the last two weeks, urging the Centre to replace Kiran Bedi.

The ruling Congress-led Secular Democratic Alliance had gone on a four-day agitation here from January 8, demanding the recall of Bedi.

The Chief Minister, who took part in the agitation, had alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bedi "hatched a conspiracy to dismantle the separate status of Puducherry by merging it with Tamil Nadu."

He had also accused the PM and Bedi of being keen on depriving the people of Puducherry of their rights.

The SDA, barring the DMK, had gone on a day-long fast here on February 5, demanding the recall of Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi.

The alliance also proposes to observe a bandh here on February 16 to press for their demand.

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

The Congress had in December 2019 written to President Ram Nath Kovind seeking the recall of Bedi, who has maintained that being the Administrator of the Union Territory she was only discharging her duties as per law.

PTI