Statehood demand common refrain in poll planks of Puducherry contestants

Puducherry: Almost all the contestants in the Lok Sabha polls in Puducherry have demanded that the Centre should confer statehood on the Union Territory. Puducherry has been a UT since its formation in 1963. While canvassing for the upcoming Parliament polls, the contestants cutting across party lines have also promised voters that they would leave no stone unturned to get statehood for Puducherry.

There are twenty-six candidates in the fray here of which BJP's senior leader and current Puducherry Home Minister A Namassivayam, the sitting Member of Lok Sabha V Vaithilingam and the AIADMK nominee G Tamizhvendhan are the big names.

Of the twenty-six, twenty-three are male and the rest women.

The demand for statehood had been raised on several occasions through resolutions in the Puducherry Assembly, irrespective of the party in power, given that it ensures adequate powers to the elected government as opposed to the current scenario where a Lt Governor is also in place.

Even a simple transfer of an official between departments has to be effected through the Lt Governor which poses a challenge to the elected government, the election candidates point out.

The tussle between the Lt Governor and the ministry came to focus during the previous Congress government headed by V Narayanasamy with matters reaching the court. Narayanasamy also resorted to staging a sit-in protest outside Raj Nivas--the official residence of the Lt Governor-- at that time.

He was insisting that the statehood alone would help the elected ministry implement its decisions without the intervention of the Lt Governor.

The statehood issue has been reiterated even by leaders from outside Puducherry during their poll campaigns here, ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

Another prominent issue that has been brought to the fore in the current poll campaign is the drug menace. The availability of drugs and other narcotics in Puducherry has been a matter of concern, said a spokesman of the AIADMK which has also fielded a candidate here.

Addiction to drugs also leads to serious crimes like murder, most party leaders allege. Even Independents have raised this issue.

26-year-old Sathish Kumar, who is contesting as an independent, told PTI on Thursday that the prevalence of drugs among the youth and a section of school students is 'mind-boggling'. He appealed to the government to enforce stringent measures without fear or favour to end the menace.

Other issues highlighted during the poll campaign by political parties opposed to the AINRC-BJP coalition government here are the plight of major industrial undertakings which have remained closed for years and non functioning of ration shops.

AIADMK's Puducherry secretary A Anbalagan said that while industries like the AFT mill, Bharathi and Swadeshi cotton mills were defunct, the territorial government was taking steps to bring in foreign investments to start industries here. He said that this was an amusing approach.

The constituency includes Puducherry, Karaikal, Mahe (an enclave in Kerala)and Yanam (contained in territorial limits of Andhra Pradesh).