What do you want? a rubber stamp or a good administrator: Bedi asks Pudu CM

He wants a Lt Governor who is just an onlooker and passes time and enjoys benefits of expensive establishment called Raj Nivas without meeting people or questioning officers...

Puducherry, Jun 5: Lt Governor Kiran Bedi on Monday hit out at Chief Minister V Narayanasamy for his remark that the LG should not act beyond mandate, asking if he wanted a rubber stamp or a responsible administrator.

Puducherry needed justice, integrity and good governance, said Bedi who has been at loggerheads with the Congress government in Puducherry on certain issues.

The former IPS officer and the territorial government are locked in a cold war over various matters since she assumed office in May 2016. In January this year, Congress and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MLAs demanded that the Centre recall Bedi accusing her having a 'dictatorial' style of functioning which bypassed the elected legislature.

Bedi had last month met Home Minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi and apprised him of the 'constraints' she faced in serving the Union Territory. Last year, Bedi had threatened to quit and leave the Union Territory if there was no improvement in the situation.

Naryanasamy had on Sunday said the chief minister, minister and MLAs have specified authorities and one should not interfere in another's authority. Today Bedi said the "chief minister desired a Lt Governor who is a mere endorser and a person who may let wrongs happen even when people are suffering injustice".

"He wants a Lt Governor who is just an onlooker and passes time and enjoys benefits of expensive establishment called Raj Nivas without meeting people or questioning officers and would do what he tells even in writing," she said in a Whatsapp message in a group comprising media persons and eminent personalities.

"People are crying for justice, students and parents are crying for admissions as per the orders of Government of India and higher judiciary," she said, asking who would hear them and speak for them.

She said Raj Nivas was now becoming their last hope. "Does he want a rubber stamp or a responsible administrator," she said. Bedi has already launched the official website of Raj Nivas and said she wants to make it a bridge between the people and various departments for redressal of grievances.

Narayanasamy has last week criticised Bedi for her directions to officials involved in the ongoing counselling process for post-graduate medical courses and accused her of adopting a 'misleading approach' on the matter. Making a statement in the state Assembly on June 2, he alleged that Bedi was criticising ministers and officials on social media and that she should stop making 'derogatory remarks.

Bedi had on May 30 conducted a surprise inspection of the counselling process by the Centralised Admission Committee and directed officials to ensure 50 per cent of seats available under government quota were filled and not given to private colleges or under all-India quota.

PTI