PUDUCHERRY: Former Chief Minister of Puducherry and senior Congress leader V Narayanasamy on Saturday charged the AINRC-BJP government with hoodwinking the people on the statehood issue.
Referring to Chief Minister N Rangasamy’s statements on the requirement of statehood for Puducherry, Narayanasamy said the CM has failed to take up the issue with the Centre. At a press conference on Saturday, Narayanasamy said that except adopting a resolution to seek statehood in the territorial assembly, no follow-up action was taken. The government should have sent the resolution to the Centre and the Chief Minister should have followed it up by calling on the Prime Minister and the Home Minister, said Narayanasamy.
The BJP on the other hand in its election manifesto had promised special category status for Puducherry, but now the BJP government at the Centre has declared in the Lok Sabha that granting statehood to Puducherry was not under consideration, said Narayanasamy. This shows that the statehood promise was a hollow one which was used as a ploy to come to power by deceiving the people, said Narayanasamy.
The previous Congress government led by him had pressured the Prime Minister, Home Minister and Finance Minister to sanction statehood, he said adding that the NDA government at the Centre had failed to respond due to political reasons. But now it is the same political party both at the Centre and Puducherry and the Chief Minister should have pursued the matter with the Centre to secure it.
Further, he charged the NDA government at the Centre had been ignoring Puducherry on various aspects. While due finance was not being provided by the Centre to Puducherry nor any new schemes, the AINRC-BJP government in the UT was not bothered about the issues of inflation, unemployment and economy, alleged Narayanasamy
The NDA allies AINRC and BJP were fighting amongst themselves and malpractices were prevailing in the administration, hampering welfare and development, he said and urged them to function unitedly from the New Year to serve the people of Puducherry.
Chief Minister N Rangasamy will be held responsible if there was a spike in Covid cases, he said. All the Covid safety protocols and restrictions as directed by the High Court had been violated during the New Year celebration, said Narayanasamy and questioned the necessity to permit this when it posed a threat. Already, two cases of the Omicron variant have been confirmed and there is a chance of proliferation. He said that unlike in the adjoining states, the Puducherry government has not put in place the necessary infrastructure if cases rise adding that the AINRC-BJP government has no concern for the people. While 70 percent have got the Covid vaccination jab twice, 40 percent of the population have got just one jab.