Narayanasamy meets President seeking recall of L-G Bedi

NEW DELHI/PUDUCHERRY:

Taking his fight with Lt Governor Kiran Bedi to the President of India, Chief Minister of Puducherry V Narayanasamy on Wednesday urged Ram Nath Kovind to recall the former IPS officer, saying she was running a ‘Tughlaq Darbar.’

In a detailed memorandum presented to Kovind in the national capital, Narayansamy said “even during French regime, we were not ill-treated like this.” He complained that Bedi was ‘autocratic’ and was interfering in the administration, besides ‘impeding’ the implementation of various proposals of the elected government.

The Chief Minister, who has been at odds with Bedi over a number of issues concerning the union territory since her appointment there in 2016, had a half an hour meeting with the President.

Speaking to PTI over the phone from New Delhi, he said he had presented the memorandum containing the various schemes allegedly impeded by Bedi and that he was accompanied by lone Lok Sabha member from Puducherry V Vaithilingam and his cabinet colleagues M Kandasamy and Malladi Krishna Rao.

“The proposal of the government to introduce 10 per cent quota for students from government schools and holding NEET certificates intending to do medical education had also been facing hurdles as the Lt Governor to whom the proposal was sent had forwarded it to the Centre,” he said.

In the memorandum, made available to the media at Puducherry, Narayansamy told the President that “Dr Kiran Bedi is running Tughlaq Darbar in undemocratic (manner) and in violation of Rules of Law.”

He charged Bedi with ‘burying’ the democratic setup and democratic institutions and said she was a ‘danger’ to the democracy.