Reacting to the absence of DMK from the day-and-night agitation called by the Secular Democratic Alliance (SDA) demanding the recall of Lt Governor Kiran Bedi, AICC secretary Sanjay Dutt said the Congress party always valued the alliance with the DMK and the top leadership of both the parties had an excellent bond.
“Maybe the local leadership of DMK has some very minor issues. These are pinpricks and will be sorted out in the long run. The Chief Minister is already talking to resolve the issues,” he told The Hindu.
Further elaborating, the AICC leader said DMK President M.K. Stalin had an excellent bond with Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. “Our fight is with communal forces. Mr. Stalin is aware of the friendship between the principal Opposition party AINRC and BJP. I am confident of sorting out those minor issues,” he said.
On the agitation, the Congress leader said the party and members of the SDA were left with no other option other than hitting the streets against the Lt. Governor because her unconstitutional ways of functioning had taken away the rights of people. “The basic premise in the Constitutional scheme of things was that when there is an Assembly, the will of the people matters. The elected representatives express the will of people,” he said. “When you thwart the decisions of the Assembly and Cabinet, you are hitting at the roots of democracy. One could understand if the Lt. Governor has differences on some decisions. Here all the major decisions of the cabinet are either rejected, referred to the Centre or delayed which raises apprehensions,” the AICC leader said. Mr. Dutt said it was ironic that neighbouring Tamil Nadu could distribute rice to ration cardholders but not in the Union Territory due to the objection of Lt. Governor.
“These things give an impression that the BJP was using the Lt. Governor for a long-term agenda. Maybe they wanted to merge Puducherry with Tamil Nadu or make the territory without an Assembly. There is a precedence to it. The State of Jammu and Kashmir was split and downgraded as Union Territories with and without an Assembly. Under the BJP, it could happen to Puducherry as well,” he said.
