PUDUCHERRY CM NARAYANASAMY WALKS OUT OF EVENT, KIRAN BEDI DEMANDS APOLOGY!   

Cold war between Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy and Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi have been since the latter assumed office in 2016. They fight took an ugly turn after Chief Minister Narayanasamy walked out of a function on January 26.

Narayanasamy refused to honour two people of the Padma awards with shawls at Raj Nivas stating that he had not been informed earlier. The event was at Raj Nivas, which is the Lieutenant Governor's residence. The Chief Minister also called it a breach of procedure and demanded an apology from Kiran Bedi.

Amid the fight, the former BJP leader accused the Chief Minister of disrespecting the Padma awardees. Kiran Bedi said in a statement said, "we invited both the Awardees so that Puducherrians get an immediate opportunity to greet these national heroes. Both the Padma Awardees were gracious to attend even at such short notice. Once present in the audience our Comptroller Raj Nivas Asha Gupta considered it respectful to recognise the presence of the Padma Awardees by requesting the Chief Minister to present a shawl to them."

"She thought it would be befitting the occasion that the HCM does the honours. The Honourable Chief Minister instead of welcoming this offer, in the presence of Mr Munisamy, the terracotta Padma Awardee shouted back and argued back, saying "how can it be done without his prior intimation and prior approval?" There was a great deal of embarrassment. This was right in the presence of select invitees and all the senior officers of the administration," she added in the statement.

Soon after which she demanded an apology from the Chief Minister. The two recipients of the Padma awards were author Manoj Das and terracotta artist VK Munusamy Krishnapakthar.