Treat Puducherry as 'transgender' iffirm stand can't be

Accusing the Centre of adopting different stances while sanctioning grants to Puducherry, Chief Minister V Narayanasamy on Thursday said it could as well treat the union territory as a "transgender".

The present "whimsical approach"in treating Puducherry as a 'State' for some schemes and as 'Union Territory' for others was "helpless," he said.

Inaugurating a National seminar on 'emerging challenges of fiscal federalism in India' here, the Chief Minister said, "while for the purpose of GST and other schemes the central government is treating Puducherry as a State and for others as a Union Territory."
Referring to 'obstacles' faced in implementing free rice scheme, he said, "Lack of Centre's adequate support and administrative hurdles from Lt Governor had been embarrassing us."
Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Issac who presided over the seminar said, "the intervention of Lt Governor Kiran Bedi in the implementation of welfare schemes only shows that there is mockery of democracy in Puducherry."
She said, "the big brother attitude and lop sided decisions of the Centre were also injurious."
Tamil Nadu CPI(M) Secretary Balakrishnan pointed out that if there should be continued intervention by a Lt Governor in implementation of cabinet's decisions in Puducherry, question automatically arises whether there is a need for the post."