Puducherry CM suspends agitation after talks with L-G
CHENNAI: Puducherry chief minister V Narayanasamy suspended his six-day-long dharna in front of the Raj Nivas late on Monday following marathon talks with Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi.
The talks began at 5pm and ended at 9.30pm, according to an official.
Narayanasamy was earlier joined by Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, who held talks with him over the matter. Kejriwal demanded full statehood for Delhi and Puducherry, both Union Territories.
He also targeted Bedi, once his ally in an anti-corruption movement, who later took on Kejriwal in local elections as the Bharatiya Janata Party’s candidate, only to lose.
“Defeated and rejected by the people of Delhi, Kiran Bedi is ruling Puducherry. She has been appointed by the Centre and is not an elected leader to represent the people,” Kejriwal said, sharing the stage with Narayanasamy in front of the Raj Nivas, the LG’S residence.
Kejriwal is no stranger to sit-in protests of the kind Narayanasamy is in the midst of; the Puducherry chief minister wants Bedi to be recalled and claims she is interfering in the administration as well as preventing developmental work from happening by not clearing files.
Kejriwal, who landed at the venue accompanied by his deputy CM, Manish Sisodia, held aloft a placard which read “Go Back Kiran Bedi”
Like Narayanasamy, the Delhi CM, heading the Aam Aadmi Party Government, has been engaged in a prolonged turf war with Delhi’s L-G.