French nationals and invitees to the celebration of Bastille Day on July 14 on the premises of the Consul General of France witnessed a virtually embarrassing scenario of two important heads of State attending the event separately. Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi was the first to arrive at the venue and after waiting for nearly 20 minutes she started addressing the guests.
The organisers had also invited Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy. The Chief Minister came to the function along with his Cabinet colleagues, Chief Secretary Manoj Parida and Director General of Police S.K. Gautam a few minutes after Ms. Bedi left. The invitees were keeping their fingers crossed over the unending tussle and lack of interest between the two heads of state even to see each other at a public function.
The sanctioning of nearly ₹100 crore for the Swadesh Darshan Scheme by the Government of India seems to have given a new hope to Puducherry and the government of Puducherry is not done celebrating this victory any time soon, it would appear.
Chief Minister V. Narayansamy is announcing their victory of receiving the huge amount for tourism development in every public function he is attending. In the past week, he has disseminated this message not only during the inauguration of food festival but also at the celebration of Congress leader K. Kamaraj’s birth anniversary celebration. This seems to raise the curiosity of how these funds would be utilised.
(By S. Prasad and S. Senthalir)