Kiran Bedi appointed Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry

In the recently concluded elections in Puducherry, Congress won 15 and its ally DMK two.

May 22, 2016 04:06 pm | Updated September 12, 2016 07:58 pm IST - New Delhi

Madurai; Tamil Nadu; 12/01/2015. Former IPS Officer Kiran Bedi. Photo; G. Moorthy.

Madurai; Tamil Nadu; 12/01/2015. Former IPS Officer Kiran Bedi. Photo; G. Moorthy.

BJP leader and former IPS officer Kiran Bedi was, on Sunday, appointed Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry, a post that has been vacant for the past two years.

The Union Territory was under the additional charge of Lt. Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

A Rashtrapati Bhawan communiqué said: “The President has been pleased to appoint Ms. Kiran Bedi to be the Lt. Governor of Puducherry with effect from the date she assumes charges of her office.”

The appointment comes three days after the Congress-DMK alliance won 17 seats in the 30-member Assembly. The AIADMK, which contested the elections on its own, won four seats while the BJP could not get even a single seat.

The post has been lying vacant after the Narendra Modi government sacked UPA nominee Virendra Kataria on July 2014.

Ms. Bedi, who joined the BJP just before the 2015 Assembly elections in Delhi and had been the party’s chief ministerial candidate, said she looked “forward to giving every bit of myself to the responsibility. I am there for the benefit of the country. I am here to give my best every day, each day. I am grateful for the government's decision. They trusted me.”

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, with whom Ms. Bedi had differences as part of the India Against Corruption movement and against whom she had fought polls, congratulated Ms. Bedi on her appointment. “My best wishes to Kiran Didi (elder sister) for this new role,” he tweeted.

JD(U) slams decision

But some other political leaders criticised the choice. K.C. Tyagi of the Janata Dal(U) said the Modi government, quite like the Congress in the past, was filling Raj Bhavans with political appointees.

“Both in the Constituent Assembly debates and in the report on Administrative reforms, it has been spelt out that people above the fray and not part of political structures be appointed,” Mr. Tyagi said.

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