PUDUCHERRY: AIADMK legislature party leader A Anbazhagan on Wednesday raised a breach of privilege motion against Lt Governor Kiran Bedi with Speaker V Vaithilingam, after Bedi stopped him from speaking at a government function by silencing the mike and asked him to leave the stage on Tuesday.
In his complaint submitted to the Speaker, referring to the incident, Anbazhagan stated that while he was speaking at the function to declare the Union Territory of Puducherry as open defecation-free (ODF) on Tuesday, Lt Governor Kiran Bedi came to him and asked him to stop his speech as if she was ordering her subordinate. Even though he requested her to return to her seat since the people were watching the incident involving the administrator of the UT and a legislator, Bedi immediately ordered to turn off his mike so that he could not continue the speech. Then Bedi asked him to leave the stage when he tried to return to his seat. To this, he reacted stating that he was a representative of the people and the Lt Governor did not have the right to ask him to get out, and if needed, she could go out, Anbazhagan said in the complaint.
The AIADMK leader claimed that feeling humiliated, he left the stage and added that a lot of people witnessed the incident. Bedi’s action of not allowing him to speak and asking him to get out amounts to depriving him of his privilege, he said. Further, it was a deliberate attempt to malign his reputation, and hence, action should be initiated against the Lt Governor under the Legislative Assembly privileges Act, he added.
Meanwhile, former AIADMK legislator Om Sakthi Sekhar on Wednesday blamed Chief Minister V Narayanasamy for the incident. In a WhatsApp message, Sekhar alleged, “The entire incident was stage-managed by the chief minister. This was also an effort of Narayanasamy with his coolies to confront Lt Governor Kiran Bedi, who has been striving for the development of the Union Territory.” He also demanded that the chief minister should resign if he could not deliver good governance.