Puducherry: The Puducherry assembly passed the crucial Appropriation Bill in the presence of the three nominated MLAs in the House on Wednesday. The Congress government was forced to grant permission to the three nominated members to attend the house with Lt Governor Kiran Bedi placing a condition while granting permission to introduce the Bill that the three members should be allowed to enter the house.
Ending the months long turf war between the Lt Governor and the elected government, the three BJP MLAs nominated to the House by the Centre - V. Swaminathan, K.G. Shankar and V. Selva Ganapathy were allowed to enter the house after they received separate letters from Speaker V Vaithilingam on Tuesday. The three BJP members were nominated by Ms Bedi last year without consulting the elected government. Mr Vaithilingam had, on November 12, 2017, cancelled their nominations, declaring them invalid and the members were denied entry to the house several times even after the High Court upheld their nomination. Later, the Supreme Court, while refusing to stay a Madras HC order upholding their nomination, asked government on July 19, to give permission to the members to attend the house.
CM V. Narayanasamy who holds the finance portfolio, tabled the bill in the house. AIADMK legislator party leader A. Anbazhagan charged that government had failed to introduce the bill before the last session which ended on 19 July due to the confrontation with the Lt Governor. He also criticised Ms Bedi for placing conditions to pass the Appropriation Bill.
Earlier, government whip RKR Anandaraman tabled a resolution stating that nominated legislators had no right to vote on any matter in the House and no right to exercise their franchise anywhere in the country in the presidential elections. Protesting against the resolution, All India NR Congress legislators Ashok Anand and NSJ Jayabalrose staged a walk out from the house. The Legislative Assembly adjourned sine-die after passing the Appropriation Bill, 2018 in a 25 minute long sitting.
