The Hindu : National : Puducherry Chief Minister denies rumours of his resignation

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Puducherry Chief Minister denies rumours of his resignation

Special Correspondent

PUDUCHERRY: Chief Minister N. Rangasamy on Friday set at rest rumours of his continuance in office, even as violent protests were witnessed in different parts of Puducherry in the wake of reports that he had decided to quit.

High drama preceded Mr. Rangasamy’s announcement that there was no change in the Ministry. “I appeal to the people not to believe rumours. I also don’t want people to spread rumours,” he said at his office in the Assembly complex.

As word spread that the five Ministers who were camping in New Delhi had “succeeded in convincing the high command to shift Mr. Rangasamy and his resignation was imminent,” a large number of his supporters gathered near the Chief Minister’s residence at Thattanchavady.

Mediapersons rushed to Raj Nivas around noon in the wake of rumours that Mr. Rangasamy was on his way to meet the Lieutenant Governor to put in his papers. Several supporters of the Chief Minister, riding two-wheelers, forced shops on the arterial Anna Salai and Jawaharlal Nehru Street to put up the shutters.

Some incidents of stone-throwing were also reported. Two lorries and a State-owned Puducherry Road Transport Corporation bus were damaged.

Six persons including three policemen were injured in an incident at Ariyankuppam.

Functionaries of the Pradesh Congress Committee and party activists tried to check the veracity of reports about a possible change in the Ministry.

A large number of activists gathered before the Assembly complex.

As they came to know of the party leadership’s decision not to remove Mr. Rangasamy, his supporters burst crackers and showered him with flower petals even as slogans greeting him rent the air.

Mr. Rangasamy, who came to his office in the Assembly complex around 2.45 pm, told reporters that he had not resigned. There was no problem and the administrative works went on as usual.

Ministers in Delhi

Asked why his Cabinet colleagues were camping in New Delhi, he said that they might have gone there in connection with official work.

“The Ministers, as usual, have been performing their duties well,” he added.

Some of the Congress functionaries, including senior general secretary of the PCC A. Gandhiraj, called on PCC chief A.V. Subramanian seeking his intervention to sort out the differences between the Chief Minister and the Ministers.

Mr. Gandhiraj said the PCC was being kept in the dark and the goings on in the party would tarnish its image.

Mr. Subramanian told The Hindu that he had already sent a detailed report to the high command 10 days ago on the prevailing political situation in the Union Territory. He had not held any leader responsible for the crisis.

PCC chief flays violence

Pradesh Congress Committee chief A.V. Subramanian on Friday flayed the “violent incidents in Puducherry on the basis of rumours.”

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