War of words continues to escalate in Pondicherry

Puducherry: Union Territory of Puducherry witnessed continuous war of words between Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi and Chief Minister V. Narayanaswamy that escalated way above amicable situation in 2017.

The squabble, which began with the former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer taking charge as Lieutenant Governor in May 2016, and Congress leader V. Narayanaswamy being sworn in as the chief minister a month later, boiled over this year with both the constitutional heads engaged in direct war of words on various issues.

Bedi has attracted criticism from both the ruling and Opposition parties in the Union Territory. Political parties, barring the All Indian NR. Congress and BJP, sought the recall of the Lt Governor and unanimously got a resolution passed in Assembly.  

The year started with the statement of Bedi who said that she will quit on May 29, 2018, when she completes two years in office. The two constitutional heads came in a direct face off with the suspension of a Puducherry civil services (PCS) official for allegedly sending obscene videos on a WhatsApp group, created by the L-G for administrative efficiency, in January.

Leaving people in a state of shock, the Chief Minister issued an order banning  social media use among government officials , but even more surprising was the move of the Lieutenant Governor who declared the Chief Minister's order null and void giving clear indication that the relation between the elected government and the Lt Governor is becoming worse.

In April, Puducherry faced a constitutional crisis of sorts when Bedi intervened and cancelled the recommendations made by the Assembly to keep in abeyance the appointment of a municipal official where the Lt Governor directly criticised chief secretary Manoj Parida for issuing order to relieve Puducherry municipal commissioner R. Chandrasekaran of his duties without her approval.

The turf war reached its peak with Union home ministry clearing the names of two BJP functionaries - V. Saminathan and K.G. Shankar - and pro-BJP education entrepreneur S. Selva Ganapathy as the nominated members of the Assembly. In a hurriedly arranged swearing-in ceremony Bedi administered the oath of office to the three members at the Raj Bhavan on July 4, a ceremony from which the media was kept away where the Chief Minister called it as 'a cruel insult of rules and regulations'.

Congress dragged the issue to Madras high court and Speaker V. Vaithilingam refused to accept the nomination and to extend any facilities to the nominated members so far.

Congress leaders with the support of Chief Minister took their protest to the streets and on July 8 a day-long closedown was organised to protest against the nominations and the authoritarian rule of the Lt Governor.

Another flashpoint in the fight was Bedi 's intervention to fill in the government quota in medical admission alleging that the colleges are diverting these seats to the management quota. This time the Chief Minister dared the Lt Governor to prove her allegation levelled against the lawmakers and officials on medical admission issues, but on the other hand the Lt Governor openly challenged the government by taking the issue to CBI where two IAS officers of Puducherry and a few other officials were booked by CBI in connection with the alleged irregularities in the admission process.

Morning site visits of the Lt Governor on weekends AND her social media interventions earned much criticism from political parties. Unfazed by criticism, Bedi started open sessions at Raj Nivas and an official website to address complaints of the people.

Ministers and legistors were often seen criticising Bedi for not releasing funds for developmental projects. Bedi declined the allegations and instead opened a page on the website for detailing orders passed by the Lt Governor to prevent ‘misinformation’

To address the financial crisis prevailing in Puducherry the Lt Governor was seen banning business class flight travel by all officials. The year ended with Bedi's claim that Lt Governor's office alone had addressed 13,075 complaints this year.
People of the Union Territory and the political arena is  looking forward to see whether this clash between the constitutional heads would continue in 2018 also.