Speaker V. Vaithilingam on Wednesday said he had to take legal opinion before referring the petition submitted by AIADMK leader A. Anbalagan against Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi to the Privileges Committee.
Speaking to The Hindu on the petition given by Mr. Anbalagan, Mr. Vaithilingam said he had to take a wide range of consultation before taking any decision. “So far, I have received petitions against officials.
“This is the first time a petition seeking privilege motion against a Lt. Governor has been given. I have to consult legal experts before even referring it to the committee,” he said. Mr Anbalagan, along with his three party MLAs, submitted a petition to the Speaker for initiating privilege motion against Ms. Bedi over the incident that occurred on Tuesday at a public function.
Ms. Bedi and Mr. Anbalagan had sparred at a function to declare Puducherry as Open Defecation Free after the latter was asked to cut short his speech because of time constraint. An ugly spat ensued between both after the microphone of Mr. Anbalagan was switched off when he refused to wind up his address.
‘Infringement on rights’
The AIADMK leader had petitioned to the Speaker that his rights as an MLA to take up issues concerning his constituency had been violated at the function.
The Lt. Governor had infringed upon his rights by directing the authorities to switch off the microphone, he added.