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The battle between Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi and Chief Minister Narayanswamy has worsened, with the legislative assembly secretariat of Puducherry refusing to accept the nomination of three Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders as MLAs, even as the BJP is alleged to be working towards destabilising the government led by the Congress party.
Assembly Secretary A Vincent Rayar on Monday informed the lieutenant governor’s secretary that the Puducherry assembly secretariat had not received any communication from competent authority about the nomination of three members, so the documents enclosed in a letter were returned, reported The Times of India.
On the other hand, reports state that the BJP MLAs are trying to disqualify Congress and DMK MLAs for holding ‘office of profit’. Stating this as the reason, a petition has also been submitted to the President Pranab Mukherjee seeking disqualification of MLAs, who are holding post of chairman Boards and corporations, reported The New Indian Express.
Seven MLAs had been appointed as chairpersons of public companies and some of their tenure has already expired. In these, five MLAs belong to Congress and two are from DMK. The Congress party had also filed a petition in the Madras High Court against the appointments and the matter will be coming up for hearing on 12 July.
On 4 July 2017, the Central government had allowed backdoor entry of three MLAs into the Puducherry Assembly. Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi had administered to them oath of office and secrecy at Raj Nivas without informing the government or inviting other legislators.
Defending her action to administer the oath, Kiran Bedi, said, “The order was duly notified by the chief secretary and it was also published in the extraordinary gazette of Puducherry and the assembly speaker informed,” reported TOI.
Both Kiran Bedi and Assembly Speaker Vaithilingam have left for New Delhi to get clarification from the Union Ministry and also from legal and constitutional authorities.
(This piece was originally published in The News Minute and has been republished with permission.)
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