Stage is set for a high voltage political drama in the Union Territory of Puducherry as Madras High Court on Wednesday issued notices to the Centre, Puducherry Government and three newly sworn in nominated MlAs belonging to the BJP in response to a petition filed by K lakshmi Narayanan, a MlA belonging to the Congress with a plea to stay the move by the Home Ministry to nominate the three.
Meanwhile, the DMK and the ruling Congress has called a Puducherry bandh on July 8, against the action of the l-G. On Tuesday evening, Kiran Bedi, the flamboyant lieutenant Governor of the Union Territory had administered the oath of office to the three nominated MlAs, V Saminathan, KG Shankar and S Selvaganapathy, all belonging to the BJP. The three were nominated by the Ministry of Home Affairs as per the Union Territory Act 1963.
As per precedence, the Puducherry Government should have forwarded the names of the three persons to be nominated as MlAs through the l-G to the Ministry of Home Affairs for final approval. But for reasons known only to Chief Minister V Narayanasamy, the Government has not proposed any names though it took office in May 2016.
Following the delay in submitting the names of persons to be nominated as MlAs, the lieutenant Governor herself forwarded a list of three names to the MHA which was approved by the latter. Of the three, Saminathan is the Puducherry BJP chief and had contested the 2011 and 2016 Assembly elections only to be defeated. Shankar is the treasurer of the BJP while Selvaganapathy, a billionaire is close to the BJP leadership.
Though the three approached V Vaithilingam, Speaker of the Puducherry Assembly on Tuesday with a plea to swear them in as members of the House, the latter directed them to give the copies of their nomination to the legislative secretary, an indirect way of saying no to them. But Bedi summoned them to Raj Nivas and administered the oath of office much to the dismay of the Congress leadership and the DMK. In a communique issued late Wednesday, Bedi said “the oath ceremony of the nominated MlAs was done against the background of their reporting the compelling circumstances they had been placed in”.
Kiran Bedi and Narayanasamy are on a collision course following the lieutenant Governor’s pro-active style of functioning. The Chief Minister is uncomfortable in the company of l-G, a former IPS officer who is known as a stickler for norms. last month, the Assembly had passed a resolution asking the Union Gove-rnment to amend the Union Territory Act to clip the wings of the l-G.
The First Bench consisting of Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice M Sundar ordered notices to the Union Home Ministry, the Government of Puducherry and the three nominated MlAs returnable in a week.
Interestingly, this s not the first time the lG is administering oath of office to the nominated MlAs. In 1990, Chandrawati, the then lG, had sworn in three nominated MlAs belonging to the DMK. The union territory was then ruled by the DMK-Janata Dal combine.