PM Modi, L-G Kiran Bedi have hidden agenda of merging Puducherry with Tamil Nadu: CM V Narayanasamy

PUDUCHERRY: Chief Minister of Puducherry V Narayanasamy on Friday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the territorial Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi of trying to dismantle the separate status of Puducherry and merge it with neighbouring Tamil Nadu.

The Chief Minister said, "The Prime Minister and the Lieutenant Governor, along with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), have been slowly depriving Puducherry government of its powers and impeding several welfare and developmental schemes proposed by the elected government.'

Addressing participants of the day-long fast to press for the demand to recall Bedi, Narayanasamy said there was indeed a threat of merging Puducherry with Tamil Nadu. "If merged, Puducherry would be reduced to a status of a district like Villupuram or Cuddalore," he said.

Appealing to the people to be wary of the merger which he called as a hidden agenda, the Chief Minister said Puducherry would be safe only in the hands of the Secular Democratic Alliance (SDA).