Puducherry govt did nothing for poor: AINRC leader

Former chief minister and AINRC leader N Rangasamy on Friday hit out at the three-year old Congress government in Puducherry headed by V Naraynasamy, accusing it of picking up quarrel with Lt Governor Kiran Bedi to "cover up its failuure" on various fronts.

Campaigning for AINRC candidate S Bouvaneswarane in Kamaraj Nagar Assembly bypoll, he said all these three years the Congress Ministers had been on a collision course with Bedi picking up quarrel on various issues only to cover up their failure to measure up to the expectations of the people.

"No step has been taken to tackle unemployment problem, promote wellbeing of the have-nots and promote industrial and agrarian development in the union territory," he charged. Bedi and the government had been locked in a power tussle over various administrative issues and the matter is pending in court.

Claiming that people were "utterly disgusted" with the Congress rule, the Leader of the Opposition in the assembly said he was confident the AINRC candidate contesting the October 21 byelection with the support of the AIADMK and other fraternal parties would romp home. Nine contestants are in the fray and the main fight is between the Congress nominee A John Kumar and the AINRC candidate.

Meanwhile, Pradesh Congress Committee leader and PWD Minister A Namassivayam, who also hit the campaign trail, claimed Rangasamy had been distancing himself from assembly sessions on most of the occasions.

He listed the achievements of the Congress rule and asserted that the party candidate, backed by the DMK and the Left parties, would emerge victorious. The byelection has been necessitated by the resignation of incumbent Congress member V Vaithilingam after he was elected to the Lok Sabha from the lone seat here in April.