Hartal in Mahe against Governor's MLA nomination

MAHE: Mahe will join the other parts of the union territory- Puducherry and Yanam—to observe  a hartal on Saturday protesting against Lieutenant-Governor Kiran Bedi’s decision to nominate three BJP leaders to the Assembly by rejecting the list given by the chief minister. The hartal has been called by four political parties- CPM, CPI, DMK and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi-- along with 24 Tamil outfits.  The ruling Congress party and the IUML have also extended support for the hartal. Karaikkal has been exempted due to the festival.

The  power struggle between the BJP- appointed Lieutenant Governor and the C. Narayanaswamy-led Congress government over the past many months witnessed a dramatic turn on July 4, when the three BJP members nominated as MLAs to the Assembly by the Union Home Ministry were sworn in by Ms  Kiran Bedi at Raj Nivas on Tuesday night without informing the chief minister or the speaker. The practice so far has been that the elected government will recommend the names to be nominated as MLAs through the Lieutenant-Governor and the ministry would issue the appointment orders.

However, Ms Kiran Bedi rejected the names given by the chief minister and picked three of her own choice. The centre also  accepted her nominees. The CPM in Mahe is against the party decision to observe a hartal. The hartal decision  was taken by the CPM national leadership and based on that, the Thalassery area secretary issued a statement directing the workers to take part in it.   The Mahe CPM unit comes under Kannur district unit.     “According to us, the Lieutenant- Governor is doing a wonderful job by interacting with people and also controlling the corrupt politicians. The politicians who show no interest to conduct civic body elections lament now over  suppressing  democracy,” added Mr Pallian Pramod, CPM leader.