PUDUCHERRY: Stating that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is diverting the attention of the people by making statements contrary to facts to blame his government of nearly five years, former Chief Minister V Narayanasamy said he is shifting the faults of Kiran Bedi, the former Lt Governor, on his government.
Addressing a press conference on Friday, Narayanasamy said it was Kiran Bedi who stopped 52 decisions taken by his government, but instead of having redressed those after he took it up with the Prime Minister, Home Minister and the Finance Minister several times, Modi was now blaming him for all these.
Referring to the Prime Minister faulting his government for non-conduct of local body elections in the UT, Narayanasamy said when his government got ready to conduct the polls by appointing the state Election Commissioner (SEC) and completing the process of delimitation of wards, it was Kiran Bedi who halted the process by removing the official appointed as SEC. Thereafter a forest service official was appointed as SEC. Now the matter is in court, he said.
On the promise of the Prime Minister to reopen cooperatives, Narayanasamy it was Kiran Bedi who closed down the three textile mills, though his government wanted to reduce the employees through VRS and run the mills. Even public sector undertakings became non-functional at the intervention of Kiran Bedi, despite his government allocating funds for each of them in the budget, said Narayanasamy.
On the assurance of the Prime Minister to bring a blue revolution, Narayanasamy said it was Kiran Bedi who did not approve the enhancement of pension for fishermen, but on the contrary, removed around 3000 fishermen from the purview of the pension, he said. Neither the ban period assistance nor the relief to Yanam fishermen could be provided due to Kiran Bedi, he said.
Despite all this, Narayanasamy said that his government achieved a growth rate of 10.2 percent, while the growth of the central government was minus 7 percent. “If no development has taken place in the UT, how did Puducherry achieve this growth rate?” asked Narayanasamy. "This is despite the Covid period and lack of finances from the central government," he said. If Kiran Bedi had cooperated, much more could have been done, said Narayanasamy.
The former Chief Minister said that the Prime Minister had not announced even a single new scheme for Puducherry during his visit on Thursday.
The four laning of NH45-A, from Sattanathapuram to Nagapattinam as part of the four laning of Villupuram to Nagapattinam project via Karaikal, was initiated by the previous Congress government led by Manmohan Singh through a cabinet decision. After a long delay, the foundation stone has been laid for the project in Puducherry, though 95 percent of the road is in Tamil Nadu.
The development of the mini port under Sagarmala project got approved for Rs 44 crores three years back, but only now the funds could be allocated by the central ministry and foundation stone laid.
He said that the historic Marie building was inaugurated by the Prime Minister after Kiran Bedi stopped the inauguration by him and said that there were no central funds involved as the building was reconstructed with loans from the World Bank.