Will seek legal course to protect rights of govt: Narayanasamy

Chief Minister V Narayanasamy, who is locked in a tussle with Lt Governor Kiran Bedi, today said legal remedy would be sought to establish the rights of democratically elected government in the Union Territory.
Without naming Bedi, the chief minister charged the Lt Governor with "interfering" in the routine administration of the UT and governance.
"We will knock at the doors of the court to seek judicial remedy to establish and protect the rights of the democratically elected government in Puducherry," he said.
Bedi, a former IPS officer, has been at loggerheads with the Congress-led government on various fronts, including the swearing-in of three BJP workers as MLAs by her after they were nominated to the Assembly in July.

Narayanasamy said that the Lt Governor had recently stated that the staff and workers of one department should not be made available to other departments.
"If this is the stand of the Lt Governor, how are around 65 staff members of other departments working in Raj Nivas, the office of Lt Governor," he asked.

"It is really amusing that the Lt Governor is pointing fingers at others even as there are discrepancies at her level," the chief minister said.
The senior Congress leader said the Supreme Court had recently observed that Lt Governor cannot interfere in the working of the Delhi administration, in a case related to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Lt Governor Anil Baijal.

"This observation of the apex court is fully applicable for administration of Puducherry also," he asserted.
Narayanasamy said he had made several representations to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for taking steps for the development of Puduchery and ensure that the elected government here exercises its powerwithout any "hiccups".
"But there has been no response to my representations," he said at the birth anniversary celebrations of the country's first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.
He said it was a "matter of concern" that the Centre is "inimical to Congress-ruled states".
The chief minister said demonetisation and the Goods and Services Tax (GST) has hit farmers, traders, business community and the general public.

The revenue of states has come down sharply because of the GST. Puducherry has suffered a 30 per cent fall in its revenue, he said.
He alleged that the Centre failed to concede the plea of the Union Territory to sanction 42 per cent of the budgetary requirements under non-plan category.
At present, Puducherry is getting only 27 per cent of the requirements under non-plan category, thus hindering the implementation of various schemes, the chief minister added.