Puducherry CM: 'Kiran Bedi appears to be sister of Hitler'

Escalating his long-running feud with Lt Governor Kiran Bedi over her style of functioning, Chief Minister V Narayanasamy on Tuesday said that she “appears to be the sister of German dictator Adolf Hitler” and his blood pressure “shoots up” whenever she negates cabinet decisions. Narayanasamy, who has been at loggerheads with Bedi over her style of functioning since being appointed to the post in the Union Territory, alleged she was rejecting decisions of the elected government and “unnecessarily” interfered with routine governance.

'She is functioning as a dictator'

“She is functioning as a dictator and appears to be the sister of German dictator Adolf Hitler,” he told workers of the ruling Congress at the birth anniversary celebration of late prime minister Indira Gandhi in the party office here. Mounting a sharp attack on the former IPS officer, he said she was “standing in the way” of each and every decision of the ministry. Whenever I get the files back from Bedi without her nod to our decisions my blood pressure level shoots up and I get irritated,” the Chief Minister said.

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'Impeding implementation of cabinet decisions by unnecessarily interfering'

He said no other Governor or Lt Governor in the country was ‘interfering’ in the routine administration of a state or a union territory.

“It is only Kiran Bedi in Puducherry who is impeding implementation of cabinet decisions by unnecessarily interfering in the routine governance,” he charged. The ruling Congress and Narayanasamy have been up in arms against Bedi since her posting here in 2016 and had in the past demanded her recall, accusing her of bypassing the elected government, a charge rejected by her.

A plea against the LG’s powers was filed by a Congress MLA in the Madras High Court where a single judge bench had restrained her from interfering in the union territory government’s day-to-day functioning. An appeal by the Centre and Bedi against the order is pending before the court. Referring to the war of words with her over his recent Singapore tour, the chief minister said he along with Industries Minister Shah Jahan and DMK MLA R Siva had visited the City-State only after getting the Centre’s approval and the met the expenditure for the trip on their own.

“But the Lt Governor has raised queries on our visit. We need not get any approval for our visit from Bedi as we are not servants or slaves to the Lt Governor,” he said. Bedi has said she came to know about their visit only through the media and raised questions whether they obtained the necessary approval. Narayanasamy also came down on officials who he said were “unnecessarily” forwarding files to the Lt Governor and thus “derailing” implementation of the cabinet decisions.“The officers are unnecessarily forwarding the files to Lt Governor which is not justified and these officers would soon face the music,” he said. Earlier, Narayanasamy, his Ministerial colleagues, MLAs and freedom fighters paid floral tributes at the portrait of Indira Gandhi and later garlanded a statue of the late leader near here.

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