By Venkatesh Raghavan
Puducherry: Kiran Bedi’s removal from the position of Lt. Governor of Puducherry is viewed as a trade-off between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party owing to the ongoing fierce rivalry between her and Chief Minister V Narayanasamy that began from day one of her assuming office in May 2016.
The resignation of MLAs leading to the Congress losing majority status vis-à-vis the numbers game in the assembly, with both the opposition and ruling Congress-Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam coalition deadlocked on 14 members each had paved the way for an uneven turf war.
Also read: Congress-led coalition slips into minority in Puducherry
Many of the state BJP office-bearers were of the opinion that her continued presence in office would likely generate a sympathy wave for the Congress in the forthcoming elections that are slated for the month of May 2021.
The dismissal of Bedi was on several counts regarded as a consequence of her scoring self-goals that would adversely impact the poll prospects for the BJP. Her utterance on “karma theory”, stating the COVID pandemic was a nemesis for people eating non-vegetarian food did not go down well with the people of the state as most of them belong to the meat-eating category. Besides, Bedi’s conduct also came across as very dictatorial to not only party insiders but also the people of the state at large.
In reality, there are conflicting opinions when it comes to what some BJP insiders termed as “Over-enthusiasm.” The Lt. Governor had thrown open her official residence for people to visit. She also took interest in promoting cycle rallies and directly interacted with the people of the state and also encouraged them to approach her office for redressal of public grievances. While this was seen as a proactive move by many in the state, it also created a turf war between the Lt Governor and Chief Minister on who wields authority in the state.
The battleground which thrust her in unfavourable light of the politicians, was actually something that emanated over the state government’s concern about the liquor culture in the state that would harm the Below Poverty Line families, if direct remittance of money resulted in the men splurging on alcohol. Kiran Bedi was in favour of direct remittance of money to the BPL families and refused to permit the rationed quota of rice reaching the intended beneficiaries through the Public Distribution System (PDS). While experts from a civil servant background expressed the opinion that direct remittance of money would serve to combat the evils of a corrupt public distribution system and also families under the BPL category were responsible enough to use the money wisely, the Center intervened in favor of the ruling Congress government and issued directives for allocation of rice through the PDS.
Besides, Bedi also ruffled the feathers of the AIADMK government in Tamil Nadu, blaming the water crisis Chennai faced in 2019 on corruption and failure on part of the state administration. This was one more of her self-goals as the AIADMK ruling Tamil Nadu shared a congenial relationship with the Center. Things got worse with Narayanasamy accusing the Lt Governor of running a parallel administration and interfering with the roles and responsibilities of the state government. The power war grew bitter over time, with a delegation of legislators from the state presenting its view to President Ramnath Covind seeking the removal of the Lt Governor from office.
At present, the Telengana Governor Tamilisai Soudararajan has taken additional charge as Lt. Governor of Puducherry. While BJP is calculating for projecting a favorable face for the post well in time for the forthcoming elections in the Union Territory, the Puducherry Congress has received a brief reprieve from the continuous turf battles between Narayanasamy and Kiran Bedi.
