PUDUCHERRY: The Secular Democratic Alliance (SDA), led by the ruling Congress, has called for a dawn-to-dusk bandh in Puducherry on February 16 demanding that the Centre recall lieutenant governor Kiran Bedi for 'interfering in the day-to-day affairs of the elected government and stalling its various welfare and development schemes’.
Chief minister V Narayanasamy told reporters that a decision to this effect was taken during a meeting of the representatives of the parties in the SDA on Tuesday night. The alliance comprises of 18 non-political and political outfits including CPI, CPM, MDMK, VCK and IUML among others.
The Congress party’s chief ally DMK continued to boycott the SDA’s protests against Bedi. The ties between the two parties have strained after the local DMK leaders expressed willingness to opt out of the alliance led by Congress and lead a separate alliance sans Congress. However, the respective party leaderships have maintained that the alliance is intact and will be reviewed after ECI announces the dates for ensuing assembly polls.