CPI slams Pondy Lt Governor

The CPI today alleged Puducherry Lt Governor Kiran Bedi, who is at loggerheads with the Congress government over the transfer of a civic official, was acting in an "utterly overbearing and undemocratic" manner and "encroaching" upon the privileges of the elected government.

The Lt Governor was also functioning "as an agent of the RSS," CPI National Secretary Dr K Narayana charged.

He claimed Bedi can only advise the Chief Minister and other Ministers and had no right to "change officers or inspect police stations as she has been doing now."

He also accused Bedi of "indulging in encroachment on the powers of the elected government."
 

Bedi had objected to the recent replacement of Municipal Commissioner R Chandrasekharan following an order of Assembly Speaker V Vaithilingam over a privilege issue and instructed him to rejoin duty in the same post, in growing signs of differences with the Congress government.

The CPI leader, here to participate in the Executive meeting of the party's local unit, told reporters that the NDA government was "mercilessly using the posts of Governors to control the States ruled by the opposition."

He also said the V Narayanasamy-led government "is not fighting the Centre politically to protect Puducherry and safeguard the rights of the people."

Narayana alleged the NDA government at the Centre had "failed on several counts", particularly in preventing price rise and unemployment.

"Instead of concentrating on such issues, the NDA government was busy promoting Hindutva programmes in the country," he said.

The CPI leader charged the Central government with "concentrating on unnecessary and utterly anti-people programmes" and said the party had planned to mobilise all secular and democratic forces to protest the same.

He said a three-day national council meeting of CPI would be held in Delhi from June 16 to work out an alternative platform to counter the "threat to secularism and democracy" by the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre.

Puducherry State CPI Secretary R Viswanathan said the partymen would lay siege to the office of the Lt Governor on April 11 to press the Centre on various demands including waiver of loans and to ensure that office of Lt Governor was not not misused to the detriment of the democratically elected government.