Congress, DMK MLAs raise privilege issue against Pondy lt governor

Legislators of the ruling Congress in Puducherry and its ally DMK presented a joint memorandum to Speaker V Vaithilingam, raising a privilege issue against Lt Governor Kiran Bedi for "airing derogatory remarks against the assembly and legislators."

They submitted the memorandum to the speaker at his office here.

Seven of the 15 Congress MLAs and one of the two DMK members signed the memorandum alleging that the lt governor had made comments and issued statements that "are derogatory in nature and cause slur on the privilege of the members and the house as a whole."

The MLAs said in the memorandum that the lt governor had at one point stated that if the interim order of the Supreme Court directing permission for the three nominated legislators to participate in the house proceedings was not adhered to "serious consequences will follow."

This, they said, is particularly "causing concern to the legislators and those supporting freedom of the house."

She had 'insisted' that the three Bharatiya Janata Party members be permitted to participate in the proceedings of the house as per the interim order and fixed this as a condition precedent for her approving the introduction of the Appropriation Bill in the house.

"The recent statement of the lt governor that the lawmakers should not be law-breakers is particularly telling upon the privilege and the decorum of the house," the memorandum said, adding the statements created a wrong impression about legislators among the public.

The MLAs wanted the speaker to take action against the lt governor for breach of privilege and causing contempt to the house.

The signatories included the parliamentary secretary to the chief minister, K Lakshminarayan, and woman DMK legislator A Geetha Anandan.