The Puducherry Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC), which is the principal opposition party in the Union Territorial Assembly, on Friday, demanded the resignation of Chief Minister N. Rangasamy following direct accusation against him by the Lieutenant Governor Virendra Kataria that there is no rule of law in Puducherry.
Reacting to the exclusive interview given to The Hindu by the Lt. Governor, which has created a strong wave in the political and administrative circles of Puducherry, V. Vaithilingam, former Chief Minister and Opposition Leader, said that the observations and direct accusation against N. Rangasamy had clearly reflected the sentiments and expectations of people, traders, businessmen and industrialists of Puducherry, who were fed up with the inaction of his government on controlling anti social elements.
Had he shown at least some interest to rein in goons, who had taken an upper hand than the Law and Order machineries, he could have avoided the intervention of the Lt. Governor. He had clearly stated that he had been keeping abreast of the situation on his own.
Though almost all political parties petitioned the previous Lt. Governor on several occasions to take necessary steps to use his good offices to ensure tough action against extortionists by the government, he didn’t take any steps. However, Mr. Kataria had made a strong worded statement after watching the “rule of rowdies” during the last 2 months.
Hence, the Chief Minister should resign immediately or he should hand over the power to someone else from his party.
M.A.S. Subramanian, organiser, DMK said that the statement of Lt. Governor, who was the top administrator of Puducherry, had proved beyond doubt that there was no Law & Order in Puducherry. No one could ignore his statement, which had reflected the ground reality. It also showed that there was no understanding between the Lt. Governor and the Chief Minister in leading the government.
The failure of the government and police machinery had in fact forced the Lt. Governor to warn that he would take very stringent action against the anti social elements. Though the DMK was principally against the direct intervention of the Lt. Governor in day-to-day administrations of the government, there couldn’t be wrong in direct action as the Government had failed to provide safety to the people, which was the basic expectation of them.
A. Anbazhagan, secretary, Puducherry unit of AIADMK, said that it was true that the system of policing had rotten to a great level. More than 75 per cent of policemen had been hand in glove with the criminals and anti social elements, who had been sharing a portion of extortion money to them. The AIADMK would urge the Lt. Governor to present a written complaint to the Home Minister to take strong action against the N.R. Government.
