Union Minister of State for PMO V Narayanasamy and Puducherry Congress candidate has called upon his party cadre to drop the demand for getting Statehood for Puducherry as was sought by Territorial Chief minister and AINRC founder N Rangasamy.
Addressing a meeting at the party office, Narayanasamy said, “Rangasamy is demanding Statehood to secure greater powers for himself, but it would not be of any benefit to the people of Puducherry.”
The Union Minister further said that Rangasamy gives the impression that there was lack of funds being given to the Union Territory even when the pattern of budgetary funding was 30 per cent (Central assistance) and 70 per cent mopped up by resources from the Union Territory. Narayanasamy said that already the taxes have been raised to a maximum, as a result of which trade and industry as well as tourism had been affected. “If Puducherry were to become a State, the Central assistance would come down still further,” he added.
Narayanasamy questioned the Chief Minister as to how he would manage if Puducherry were to become a State after getting 47 per cent of budgetary allocation from Centre. “On account of this difficulty, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has sought special category status for Bihar. For exactly the same reason, is the AINR in favour of Statehood for Puducherry,” said Narayanasamy.