Kejriwal reaches out to Narayanaswamy
CHENNAI: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal Monday demanded statehood for both the national Capital and Puducherry, saying people in these two Union territories should not be discriminated against.
Kejriwal, who was here along with his deputy Manish Sisodia en route Puducherry to express solidarity with chief minister V Narayanaswamy — locked in a turf war with Lt Governor Kiran Bedi — alleged that the situation in the two Union territories was the same.
Narayanasamy, his cabinet colleagues and MLAS of both Congress and DMK have been staging a dharna against Bedi in front of the Raj Nivas in Puducherry since February 13 in protest against the her “negative stand” towards various proposals of the territorial government.
“The LG of Puducherry is cre- ating a lot of obstacles in the development work and creating problems for the elected government...we are facing exactly similar problems in Delhi,” Kejriwal, the AAP chief, told reporters at the airport here.
The Lieutenant Governors in both Delhi and Puducherry were appointees of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government at the Centre, he said.
“Visited Puducherry CM to express solidarity with the people of Puducherry. Narayanasami is fighting against dictatorship of Puducherry’s LG. UT (Union Territory) status to Delhi and Puducherry is an injustice to their people. We will fight together for full statehood,” the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader tweeted.
Kejriwal had in June last year sat on a similar protest against Delhi Lt Governor Anil Baijal inside the Raj Niwas along with Sisodia and two other Cabinet Ministers.
“People elect state governments to look into their affairs. But PMO (Prime Minister’s Office) tries to make them defunct through LG. This is the only achievement of Modiji in last five years,” Sisodia tweeted.
Asked if the Aam Aadmi Party would contest from Tamil Nadu or offer support to other parties, the Delhi CM said it would be made known later.