Statehood with all 4 regions only, says Pondy Chief Minister

Talking to reporters, the Chief Minister detailing his visit to New Delhi by leading a delegation of Ministers and legislators said that the trip was satisfactory. He said the delegation met almost all the political party leaders in Parliament and Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu besides Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Finance Minister Piyush Goyal and apprised them of the demand of conferring statehood for Puducherry. 

All the leaders they met had extended utmost cooperation on the issue, Narayanasamy claimed and thanked them on behalf of the people of Puducherry. 

The Chief Minister said Yanam region has apprehension that it may be merged with Andhra Pradesh in case of conferring statehood and clarified that as per the Indo-French Agreement at the time of the merger of Puducherry, it was agreed to preserve the separate identity of Puducherry and hence, all the four regions should be together. He said in the past several resolutions seeking statehood for Puducherry were adopted in the legislative Assembly, but the then governments never bothered to forward the same to the Union government. 

But this time, the Congress government has forwarded the copy of the resolution with a memorandum to all leaders in New Delhi. He said he had sown the seed and would perform the duty as a co-ordinator. When asked about Lt Governor Kiran Bedi’s reported comment that the people of Mahe and Yanam do not prefer statehood, Narayanasamy reiterated that the Lt Governor should function within her limits. If she wants to play politics, let her resign the post of Lt Governor and plunge into politics. 

“Today, she works in Puducherry and tomorrow she may go back to New Delhi,” he added. On the leader of the opposition in the Assembly N Rangasamy or any N R Congress legislators failing to accompany the delegation to New Delhi, Narayanasamy said while, speaking on the floor of the house, Rangasamy assured all support of his party for statehood.