Puducherry: The Puducherry assembly witnessed dramatic scenes following a private member resolution to amend the Union Territories Act, 1963 to obtain more powers to the elected government was moved in the House by the AIADMK (Amma) member. The ongoing tussle between the Lt Governor and the elected government took a new turn with the passing of the resolution, which would check the style of functioning of Lt Governor Kiran Bedi. The resolution was passed in the house amidst noisy protests by two opposition AINRC members who came in support of Ms Bedi and were later suspended for disrupting the proceedings.
As soon as the AIADMK legislator party leader A.Anbalagan moved the resolution, Congress members voiced their support of the resolution and spoke on the need to amend the Act to confer more powers on the elected government.
Chief Minister V Narayanasamy came down heavily on the Lt Governor once again for making field visits, calling meetings of officials at the Raj Nivas, holding meetings through video conferencing and sending communications through the social media. The Chief Minister said that the Lt Governor should function in support of the government and she hasn’t got any right to take arbitrary decisions.
Congress legislator RKR Aanantharaman also lashed out against Ms Bedi’s style of functioning which he described as ‘more autocratically than Hitler had done’ and alleged that the Lt Governor was acting with the intent to bring bad repute to the elected government which provoked the All India NR Congress (AINRC) members.
AINRC member Ashok Anand, who came in support of Ms Bedi earlier also, said that the students from Puducherry got admission in private medical colleges only because of the timely intervention of the Lt Governor. Citing the order of the Madras High Court order issued on Friday that directed the deemed universities to admit government-sponsored students after collecting ?l0 lakh as an interim fee, Mr Ananad lashed out against the government saying that the government was not even ready to file an affidavit in the court.
As soon as Ashok Anand made the statement, Congress members, including Chief Minister V Narayanasamy, were on their feet, countering Mr Anand. The Chief Minister said that the government had filed an affidavit in the court stating it would follow whatever decision the judiciary took on the admission issue.
The Chief Minister was also heard saying that the previous NR Congress regime was not even able to get a single medical seat from the private colleges and now the NR Congress member is making misleading statements on the medical college admission issue
As the Speaker ordered the mikes to be switched off, Mr Anand rushed out and returned with a police type of megaphone, and continued his criticism of the government. The Speaker ordered that the mike be seized from the AINRC legislator. While the marshals were snatching the mike, Anand triggered a “siren” sound on the mike which was there for few minutes creating tension in the house. Later, the siren of the megaphone went off, prompting the Speaker to order the confiscation of the megaphone.
After a while, Mr Anand staged a walk out along with his colleague NSJ Jayabal, where Mr Anand was seen throwing certain Assembly papers to the well of the House. Later, Congress and AIDMK legislator urged the speaker to suspend the AINRC members and the CM also asked the Speaker to take appropriate action against the members for violating the assembly procedures.
