Congress, DMK MLAs raise privilege issue against Pondy lt governor

Legislators of the ruling Congress in Puducherry and its ally DMK presented a joint memorandum to Speaker V Vaithilingam, raising a privilege issue against Lt Governor Kiran Bedi for "airing derogatory remarks against the assembly and legislators."
Seven of the 15 Congress MLAs and one of the two DMK members signed the memorandum alleging that the lt governor had made comments and issued statements that "are derogatory in nature and cause slur on the privilege of the members and the house as a whole."
The MLAs said in the memorandum that the lt governor had at one point stated that if the interim order of the Supreme Court directing permission for the three nominated legislators to participate in the house proceedings was not adhered to "serious consequences will follow."

This, they said, is particularly "causing concern to the legislators and those supporting freedom of the house."