Puducherry CM V Narayanasamy 'temporarily' suspends 'dharna' outside Raj Nivas

Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy "temporarily" suspended his 'dharna' outside Raj Nivas on Monday. Narayansamy had been holding a dharna outside Lt Governor Kiran Bedi's residence in Puducherry since February 13 to protest what he called the "negative attitude of Lt Governor Kiran Bedi" in approving 39 proposals of the government. "Today, Dr Kiran Bedi called us for a discussion on the demands on the issues of the people of Puducherry which were raised before her in a letter given on February 7, 2019. We had a 4.5 hours meeting in which we were able to resolve certain major issues of the people," said Narayanasamy.

Earlier in the day, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal demanded statehood for both the national capital and Puducherry, saying people in these two union territories should not be discriminated against. Kejriwal, who met Narayanaswamy, alleged that the situation in the two union territories was the same.

"The LG of Puducherry is creating a lot of obstacles in the development work and creating problems for the elected government...we are facing exactly similar problems in Delhi," Kejriwal, the AAP chief, told reporters at the airport here.

The Lieutenant Governors in both Delhi and Puducherry were appointees of the BJP-led government at the Centre, he said. "I have come to express solidarity with Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanaswamy. We will demand that both Delhi and Puducherry be made full (fledged) states. There is no reason why people of these states should be discriminated against," he said.

Asked if the Aam Aadmi Party would contest from Tamil Nadu or offer support to other parties, he said it would be made known later.

(With PTI inputs)