By removing Kiran Bedi, BJP strikes at the heart of Congress' campaign

Kiran Bedi's removal as Puducherry LG has denied Narayanasamy a key issue to counter anti-incumbency

The replacement of Kiran Bedi as lieutenant governor (LG) of Puducherry with Tamilsai Soundararajan, who was moved to the Union Territory from her position as Telangana governor earlier this week, has sparked off fevered speculation. The Assembly elections are due in Puducherry in a few weeks. 

To summarily remove a lieutenant governor (without posting her somewhere else as is the common practice) sends a message of humiliation and disgrace. Political analysts in neighbouring Tamil Nadu were quick to pronounce triumphantly that what they’d always suspected was a fact: Recognising the overreach of the LG and embarrassed at her interference, the Centre