Cabinet nod for Prez rule in Puducherry
NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a proposal to impose President’s Rule in Puducherry, days after a Congress-led government in the Union Territory lost power during a vote of confidence.
Announcing the Cabinet decision, Union minister Prakash Javadekar told reporters that the decision was taken as no party claimed to form a government in Puducherry following the resignation of the chief minister there. Subsequently, the Lieutenant General had recommended President’s Rule in Puducherry and the Union Cabinet has approved the same, he said.
After the President’s assent, the assembly will get resolved, Javadekar said, while adding that further necessary steps for administrative work in Puducherry would be taken soon.
He also noted that the model code of conduct was expected to come into effect soon after the Election Commission announces the dates for elections there, along with four states.
Meanwhile, senior Congress leader M Veerappa Moily accused the BJP of using money power to make the Congress government fall in Puducherry. He said the people will give a befitting reply to the BJP in the upcoming polls for “subverting” a popular mandate, and asserted that upholding democratic ideals will be the main issue in the elections. Moily, who is the Congress’ senior observer for upcoming polls in the UT, also said the party’s alliance with Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) will continue, and together they will get a “thumping” majority in the elections.
In an interview with PTI, Moily claimed the Puducherry polls will mark the “beginning of the fall of the BJP” in the country and the strengthening of democratic power through the Congress party. Lashing out at the BJP, the former Union minister said they never allowed the Congress government to function in Puducherry by fronting then Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi. He claimed that MLAS were also suffocated and were given the impression that even if the government was elected back, Bedi will not allow even the new dispensation to function. “They (BJP) lured them with money and power. The MLAS were tempted as they were already frustrated with the government not being allowed to function,” he said.
With the exit of the Congress government in Puducherry, Punjab, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh are the only three states in the country ruled by the party on its own. Elections for the 30 assembly seats in Puducherry are likely to held in a few months. Moily also asserted that the fall of the Congress governments in Madhya Pradesh last year and in Puducherry was completely different. “In Puducherry, it is not about the elected MLAS, it was the nominated MLAS who led to the government’s fall,” he said. Congress will bounce back, Moily added.