CM, ministers walk out of planning board meet over exclusion

Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy and his ministers staged a walkout from the Planning Board meeting here Saturday to protest Lt Governor Kiran Bedi's "failure" to include leaders of legislature wings of DMK, AIADMK and BJP as board members.

The board will finalise the draft plan of the Union Territory, projecting the financial requirements of every department. It would then be forwarded to the Centre for sanction of the projected amount for the fiscal 2019-2020.

Minutes after the meeting chaired by Bedi began, Narayanasamy protested the non-inclusion of the leaders of the DMK, the AIADMK and the BJP and walked out. He was accompanied by his ministers.

The chief minister claimed he had not received any reply to a letter he wrote to Bedi on Friday against the exclusion of leaders of these parties from the board, pointing out that they had been invited to board meetings in the past.

"We wanted the meeting to be put off and reconvened after including the legislators of the Opposition," he said.

Speaking to reporters, Congress MP Vaithilingam said he had made it clear to Bedi at the start of the meeting that as the board chairman she should include MLAs of opposition parties and ensure their participation in the deliberations.

AIADMK Rajya Sabha MP N Gokulakrishnan also protested Bedi's action.

"This is not a correct practice and to show my protest against the lapse I staged a walkout," he said.

Bedi later told reporters that she had no objection to co-opting any legislators.

"The file for co-opting the members should be presented to the secretary (planning) and then to the chief secretary before it comes to me," she said.

This procedure was not adopted earlier, she said.

There was confusion in the past on the structure of the board as some MLAs were included as members at one time and not on other occasions, Bedi said adding that a proper procedure should be adopted on the matter.

Bedi said the meeting was rescheduled for July 13 for preparation of the draft plan.

She said Narayanasamy and his ministerial colleagues have disrupted the meeting of the planning board.

In a whatsapp message, Bedi said the annual meeting of the state planning board was convened to recommend the size of the annual budget of the union territory to the Centre.

The budget would be passed in the territorial Assembly (after getting the Centre's nod on its size).

She said the board 'could not carry on its proceedings as it was abruptly disrupted. This has happened in full view of all secretaries, heads of departments and other important functionaries of the government.