Congress, Opposition voice concern about Kiran Bedi's charges

Puducherry: The ruling Congress and opposition AIADMK (Amma) once again upped the ante against Lt Governor Kiran Bedi for making corruption charges against the Smart City project and for engineering the CBI raid in Centac office.

Hitting out against Ms Bedi’s style of functioning, PCC president and PWD minister A.Namasivayam said that she should change her style of functioning.

The statement came from the PCC president in the backdrop of surprise check by CBI at the office of the Centralised Admission Committee (Centac) based on Ms Bedi’s request. He also strongly condemned the allegation raised by the BJP president Amit Shah against Puducherry government during his two-day visit in Puducherry.

The charges of corruption raised by the BJP president against the Puducherry government is politically motivated and should be strongly condemned, said Mr Namasivayam.

Where was Mr Shah when Bangaru Laxman, the BJP president, was convicted for his involvement in several cases of corruption in Karnataka, he added.

At the same time AIADMK (Amma) legislator party leader A Anbazhagan alleged that the Lt Governor is trying to stall the smart city project in Puducherry. “The Centre has allotted the smart city project for Puducherry on a request from the state government. However, Ms Bedi is making statements that the smart city project in Puducherry will lead to corruption that may prompt the union government to reconsider the project,” said Mr Anbazhagan.

Ms Bedi had made a statement that the Puducherry government’s administrative and fiscal performance has to be kept under close scrutiny by the Centre and its agencies, especially with the surge of finances expected due to Smart City and infrastructure projects.

“By raising charges of corruption even before the commencement of the project, the Lt Governor has proved that she is not interested in the development of the Union Territory, said the AIADMK leader while talking to reporters here on Thursday.