President Kovind removes Kiran Bedi as Puducherry L-G

President Ram Nath Kovind has removed Kiran Bedi as the Lieutenant Governor (L-G) of Puducherry, a communique from the Rashtrapati Bhavan said on Tuesday.

Telangana Governor Tamilsai Soundararajan has been given the additional charge of the Union Territory until regular arrangements are made.

“The President has directed that Dr. Kiran Bedi shall cease to hold the office of the Lieutenant-Governor of Puducherry and has appointed Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan, Governor of Telangana, to discharge the functions of the Lieutenant-Governor of Puducherry, in addition to her own duties, with effect from the date she assumes charge of her office and until regular arrangements for the office of Lieutenant-Governor of Puducherry are made,” read the Rashtrapati Bhavan statement issued by the press secretary Ajay Singh.

The statement didn’t specify any reason behind Ms Bedi’s removal as LG of poll-bound Puducherry. In fact, Ms Bedi had put up a two-minute long video of her supervising why the union territory has been low in COVID vaccination.

It also comes on a day when the Congress government, headed by Chief Minister V Narayanasamy, slipped into minority after two lawmakers resigned in the last two days. In all, four MLAs have quit since January.

The high profile exits of the Congress lawmakers have come as an embarrassment for the party as former party chief Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to kick off the party's poll campaign on Wednesday with a visit to Puducherry.