Puducherry: The ties between Lt Governor Kiran Bedi and Puducherry government further worsened with Bedi completing the formality of swearing in of the local president of the Bharatiya Janata Party V. Saminathan, party treasurer K.G. Shankar and educationist S. Selva Ganapathy as nominated members of the Legislative Assembly at a function held in Raj Nivas.
The new move by the Lt Governor without waiting for Madras high court to give an order on the public interest litigation filed by parliamentary secretary to Chief Minister K. Lakshminarayanan seeking a stay on the appointment of the nominated MLAs has angered Congress and opposition parties, which are planning to organise protests including a bandh on July 8 with the support of various political parties and Tamil outfits.
Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy lashed out against the Lt Governor saying that Bedi is functioning as the state president of BJP.
He pointed out that two of the nominees Saminathan and Selva Gabapathy are facing criminal cases and wondered how such persons are being nominated to Assembly.
“We have several times complained to the Union Government that the Lt Governor is violating rules. Now the Union government is doing the same,” he added. The sudden move surprised and upset the ruling party in the Union Territory.
The ruling Congress party staged a strong protest in the Puducherry Legislative Assembly on Wednesday condemning the nomination of three BJP members as MLAs by Lt. Governor Kiran Bedi.
At the same time, Madras High Court on Wednesday ordered issuance of notices to Union Home Ministry, Puducherry government and the three nominated MLAs, returnable in a week, on a petition filed by MLA Lakshmi Narayanan, challenging the appointment of three legislators when it came up for hearing.
