Pondy BJP petitions Bedi against plan to set up casinos

The Puducherry unit of the Bharathiya Janata party (BJP) presented a memorandum to the territorial Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi on Tuesday in protest against the ruling Congress government to introduce casinos here.

A delegation of the party unit led by V Saminathan, an MLA, submitted the memorandum to Bedi at Raj Niwas, her official residence.

Later, a statement from her office said the memorandum referred to the possibility of the cultural base of Puducherry getting affected if casinos were permitted and hence approval for them must not be given.

In the statement, Bedi assured the BJP delegation that she would go through the petition and initiate appropriate action.

On Saturday, Bedi had rejected the government's proposal to open casinos, lotteries and breweries to earn more revenue, saying they are considered against the spiritual ethos and social fabric of Puducherry.

Bedi had, in a whatsApp message, said Chief Minister V Narayanasamy had sent her the files containing the "three polluting needs-casinos, lotteries and breweries' for her approval.

The proposals were not agreed upon as they were considered 'against the spiritual ethos and social fabric of Puducherry,' she had said.

The CPI, a constituent of the Congress-headed Secular Democratic Alliance in the union territory, had also opposed the plan to set up casinos and lotteries under the garb of promoting tourism.

A resolution registering the protest against this move was passed at the state council meet of the CPI.

The resolution said promoting casinos would strike at the socio economic and cultural features of the former French colony.