NDA govt muffling voice of Oppn leaders: Pondy CM

Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy has charged the Centre with booking cases against leaders of opposition parties, jailing them and threatening them through the income tax department and the Enforcement Directorate to gag their voice of protest.

Addressing participants in the ruling Congress demonstration here on Saturday to protest against what the party called injurious economic policies of the NDA, the Chief Minister said, "The Congress and the Shiv Sena were raising their voice against the Centre while other parties were virtually tight-lipped following the threat issued by the Centre by booking cases."

He said the Congress would continue its protest against the 'anti-people, unproductive economic and fiscal policies of the Centre.' He said the leaders and workers of the ruling Congress here had the responsibility to expose the alleged poor functioning of the Narendra Modi-headed central government.

"We have already romped home in Puducherry with the massive support of the people in the Lok Sabha polls held in April this year and also in the recent two byelections to the territorial Assembly," he said.

Referring to the developments in Maharashtra, Narayanasamy accused the BJP of forming a government thereby adopting 'unconstitutional and unjustified' means which is a great slur on democracy. He said the agitation by the Congress was targeting both the Central government and against the Puducherry Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi who had allegedly been going against the decisions of the territorial cabinet.

"For instance, the free rice scheme evolved with an outlay of Rs 194 crore to help the farmers was opposed by Bedi, so were several other important decisions of the cabinet," he said.

The chief minister further said the Congress volunteers should inform the people particularly in rural areas of the 'style and functioning of the Lieutenant Governor." PWD Minister and PCC leader A Namassivayam, Ministers and legislators of the Congress were among those who participated in the demonstration in which slogans were raised against the alleged anti-people measures of the Centre.