Puducherry CM hails ouster of L-G Kiran Bedi as 'victory of people'; hits out at Centre

Hailing the ouster of Puducherry Lieutenant-Governor (L-G) Kiran Bedi on Tuesday, said that it was a victory of the people of Puducherry. Lashing out at the Centre and Bedi, he alleged that while the Modi government were taking away state funds, the L-G was interfering in the state issue. President Ram Nath Kovind issued Bedi's dismissal, replacing her with Telangana governor Tamilisai Soundararajan.

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Puducherry CM: 'Victory for UT'

"This is a victory for the people of Puducherry. The rights of the Puducherry people have been saved today. On one side, Narendra Modi govt was taking away, on the other side, Dr. Kiran Bedi was interfering in the elected government's powers. The goal of removing Dr. Kiran Bedi for which the Congress-DMK govt fought has been realised today and the creidt goes to people of Puducherry," he said.

Meanwhile, the Puducherry government is currently undergoing a crisis as 4 Congress MLAs resigned, pushing the 14-seat government into a minority in the 33-seat Assembly. With 4 MLAs resigning, Congress has been reduced to 10 seats, while ally DMK has 3 seats and 1 Independent MLA. Meanwhile, the Opposition has 14 seats - AINRC has 7 seats, BJP has 3 seats and AIADMK has 4 seats. 5 seats lie vacant.

Congress MLAs - A Namassivayam, E.Theeppainjan, Malladi Krishna Rao, John Kumar have cited dissatisfaction with the current government as the reason for their exit - a day ahead of ex-Congress chief Rahul Gandhi's visit. While  A Namassivayam, E.Theeppainjan have already joined BJP, Congress is in a huddle to tackle the situation. Sources tell Republic that all Congress leaders are set to resign, the government will be dissolved. Puducherry is set to go to polls in April-May.

Kiran Bedi removed as Puducherry L-G post CM's 'recall' demand; Telangana Guv replaces her

Puducherry CM Vs L-G Kiran Bedi

Narayanasamy and Bedi have been at loggerheads over various issues concerning the governance in the Union Territory, since she was appointed as L-G in May 2016. While Congress accused her of going against the decisions of the state government, the ex-IPS officer maintained that she was discharging her duties as per law. Recently, Puducherry CM  staged a 4-day agitation from January 8 followed by a day-long hunger strike on February 5 in which members of several parties including the CM participated. They reiterated the demand that either Bedi should quit on her own or the Centre should recall her. Escalating the matter further, Narayanasamy submitted a memorandum to President Ram Nath Kovind on February 10 urging him to remove Bedi, saying she was running a ''tughlaq durbar". Narayanswamy has alleged that Bedi had not sanctioned 39 government proposals, including a free rice scheme.

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