Bedi interested only in publicity: Narayanasamy

Locked in a bitter battle with Kiran Bedi, Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy feels that administering the Union Territory would be an easy task if the Lt governor works within her parameters and stop interfering in the functioning of the government.

As he completes two years in office next week, the chief minister accused the BJP-led Centre of unnecessarily troubling his government through Kiran.

“There will absolutely be no problems if she works within her parameters, everything will be alright. She has no power or authority to keep returning files all the time. If she works according to the rules, there will be no issues at all,” Narayanasamy told DH in an interview.

Narayanasamy and Kiran have been at loggerheads ever since they took over in 2016 as chief minister and Lt governor respectively.

While the chief minister accuses Kiran of overstepping her authority, the former IPS officer asserts that she was acting within the parameters of the Constitution that gives her powers as the administrator.

The former Union minister said problems stem due to non-adherence of rules by Kiran and accused her of being interested only in publicity and acting at the behest of the BJP.

“It is not only the government functionaries, people are also against her (Kiran). Recently, we saw how she put spokes in the free rice scheme formulated by my government. She withdrew the order of linking cleanliness with free rice after an uproar across the country. She was forced to eat her own words,” he said, referring to the governor's controversial order linking cleanliness with free rice scheme.

He also took objection to Kiran sharing “official communication” between the CM and L-G on Twitter and Facebook.

“I am not against their use. If everything can be shared on social media, why do we even have Official Secrets Act? There is a certain amount of classified information in the government and they cannot be released openly. Why should she release the secrets? She is behaving as if she is the only champion of social media,” he said.