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AIADMK flays Puducherry government on full Statehood issue

A.Anbalagan

PUDUCHERRY: Secretary of the Puducherry unit of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) A. Anbalagan on Saturday accused the Congress government of indulging in “doublespeak” on the Statehood issue.

He told reporters here that though the members belonging to all the political parties supported the government-sponsored resolution on the Statehood issue, Tourism Minister Malladi Krishna Rao had opposed it. The Minister had shown scant regard for the welfare of over 10 lakh people of the Union Territory, he said.

Against this backdrop, the Minister should have been dismissed or he should have stepped down, Mr. Anbalagan said. However, the Pradesh Congress Committee president had only said the party would take steps to convince the Minister on the issue, he added.

Recalling the steps taken by general secretary of the AIADMK Jayalalithaa during the National Democratic Alliance rule in 1998 to help Puducherry achieve Statehood, Mr. Anbalagan said the Union Territory government should resort to follow-up measures to the Assembly resolution. The government should not forget that the Home Ministry had already refused to grant special category status for the Union Territory, he added.

Contrary to Chief Minister N. Rangasamy’s announcement in the Assembly last year that the Common Entrance Test would be abolished next year, the government issued a G.O. on March 25 for conducting the test, he said. One of the Ministers had been opposing the decision to abolish the CET, he alleged.

The “delayed decision” of the government on the CET abolition had posed problems to the students, he said.

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AIADMK flays Puducherry government on full Statehood issue

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