Buoyed Kiran Bedi thanks Centre for reward

Buoyed by her appointment as Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry, former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer and BJP's chief ministerial candidate for the 2015 Delhi Assembly election Kiran Bedi on Sunday said that she was she was extremely grateful to the Central Government for giving her such a wonderful opportunity.

"I am extremely grateful to the government for giving me such a wonderful opportunity," said Bedi, under whose leadership the BJP faced a humiliating defeat in the assembly polls by her one-time colleague Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party.

Bedi had contested from the Krishna Nagar seat in east Delhi, which was considered as a BJP stronghold, but failed to win.

Talking about her priority as the Lt. Governor of Puducherry, Bedi told ANI: "My priority will be bottom-up approach. I would like to make a constable and a school teacher feel that he or she is the most important."

"We are here to carry forward the current momentum of development in all areas with integrity, fairness and no assurances in false," she said.

"I don't consider it as power; to me it's a resource to deliver," said Bedi.

Meanwhile, congratulating Bedi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwas tweeted: "My best wishes to Kiran Didi for this new role."

President Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday appointed former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Kiran Bedi as the Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry.

Bedi will succeed Lieutenant General (Retd.) Ajay Kumar Singh, who was appointed in July 2013. He was given additional responsibility of the administration of Puducherry in July 2014.

Bedi, who became the first woman to join the IPS in 1972, remained in service for 35 years before taking voluntary retirement in 2007 as Director General, Bureau of Police Research and Development.

In the recently concluded assembly elections in Puducherry the Congress won 15 and its ally DMK won two out of 30 seats.