Puducherry Assembly adopts resolution urging Centre to grant statehood

The territorial Assembly on Friday adopted a resolution unanimously urging the Centre to grant statehood to Puducherry after Chief Minister N Rangasamy made out a strong case for it.

The resolution was first moved as private members resolution by the opposition DMK and an Independent member G Nehru seeking statehood for Puducherry 'to overcome several handicaps and hindrances the elected government was facing now as Puducherry was an Union Territory.'

The Chief Minister, who rose to respond to the resolution, said "it (resolution) is converted into an official resolution".

With all the members who spoke earlier extending support to the resolution for statehood, Speaker R Selvam announced it was treated as an official resolution and was adopted unanimously.

All members, irrespective of their party affiliation and nominated and Independent members stood up and banged the desks showing their joy at the resolution being adopted unanimously and as an official resolution.

Earlier, DMK members R Siva, A M H Nazeem, Annibal Kennedy and R Senthil Kumar and Independent member G Nehru tabled the resolution to urge the Centre to grant statehood to Puducherry.

There was also a suggestion that the chief minister take a delegation of all the legislators to meet the Prime Minister, the Union Home Minister and other union Ministers to urge the Centre to concede the demand.

The chief minister, who spoke after listening to the views expressed by the members on the need for statehood, said "the demand for statehood is reiterated not for administrative purposes but it is a matter of our right."

He said he would lead a team of all legislators to meet the Prime Minister, Union Home Minister and other Central ministers to press for the demand. "We will also meet the Members of Parliament of parties supporting our plea for statehood in Delhi,"

Rangasamy said he was fully confident that "statehood would be achieved during the 2023-2024 fiscal."

"Statehood is the only solution to bring to an end all the current struggles and hindrances the elected government here has been facing because Puducherry is an Union Territory," Rangasamy said, adding that "the goal of statehood is very near."

He also thanked all the legislators without exception for their support of the demand for statehood.

Home Minister A Namassivayam, who spoke earlier said "statehood is a must and there was no second opinion on the part of the Bharatiya Janata Party (to which he belongs) which is part of the NDA government led by the AINRC here to seek statehood." He said that resolutions for statehood were adopted on 13 occasions in the Assembly in the past since 1987.

He further said "most of the time the resolutions of the Assembly were not sent to the Centre as officials who should have forwarded them to the Union Home Minister let the resolutions gather dust in Puducherry itself. The officials feared that once Puducherry became a state the powers of the bureaucrats would be hit".

Namassivayam said as far as the BJP was concerned it was always in favour of statehood for Puducherry.

He said the NDA government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was always favourably conceding all the demands of the AINRC-led coalition government in Puducherry.

"I am fully confident that our resolution for statehood would be accepted by the Centre," Namassivayam said and added that already the Centre had permitted the Puducherry government to use the sprawling site in Sedarapet and Karasur villages here for rapid industrialisation.

He said that "we have requested the Centre to amend the Business Rules relating to the government of Puducherry, include Puducherry in the Central Finance Commission and enhance the financial powers of the Chief Minister and elected government here so that decisions could be taken fast and development in various sectors could be achieved by allotting funds.

At one point, Independent member Nehru wanted to speak on the statehood issue. When the Speaker did not permit him to do so, Nehru staged a walkout from the House. He, however, returned to the House a few minutes later.