MDMK leader's plea to Govt on renaming Pondy

Puducherry, May 6 (UNI) Stating that 'Puducherry' was the ancient name of Pondicherry, MDMK Leader and Former Minister N Manimaran today urged the Territorial Administration to rename the town as 'Puducherry.' Talking to newspersons here, Mr Manimaran said the argument of Chief Minister N Rangasamy that foreign tourists would be confused by the name Puducherry could not be accepted. None of the foreign tourists coming to Delhi was confused with the same name for the Union Territory and its capital.

Alleging that the Congress Government in Puducherry was a ''stumbling block'' for the development of Tamil in the Union Territory, he said while in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, the mother tongue was a compulsory subject in schools, the Puducherry Government was not implementing the same. He demanded that Tamil be made a compulsory subject here.

He also said the MDMK volunteers would donate blood to mark the 16th anniversary of the party's formation day tomorrow.

UNI PAB SJ RL AS1932