Puducherry Chief Minister N Rangasamy strongly backed the Union Territory’s long-standing demand for statehood, saying he was even ready to resign from his post to press the Centre on the issue. He also pointed out that he had reminded the Centre that the UT cannot continue to ‘remain without powers.’
CM Rangasamy made the remarks in the Assembly during a debate on the delay in granting statehood to Puducherry. Leader of the opposition A M H Nazeem called for unified protest ‘against the delay in Centre giving its nod for statehood to Puducherry.’ Ruling AINRC legislator A John Kumar also participated in the debate and sought special category status for Puducherry. While, Nazeem (DMK) said that ‘we should all show our protest to press the statehood demand.’
Responding to the demands, CM Rangasamy said, ‘I am ready to quit to reinforce our demand for statehood. We would all go to Delhi to place before the Centre our plea for Statehood.’ CM said the government was facing difficulties because Puducherry continues to function as a Union Territory without the powers available to a full-fledged state. He said he had raised the issue several times, including directly with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the latter’s recent visit to Puducherry. He argued that statehood was essential for Puducherry’s faster development and for the effective and timely implementation of government schemes.
Following CM’s statement, members from both the ruling and opposition benches said they were also willing to give up their positions to support the statehood demand. The pro tem Speaker A Anbalagan said that the Assembly had adopted resolutions on several occasions in the past to persuade the Centre to grant statehood to Puducherry. He also said that special category status would never be possible for Puducherry as there were several conditions that could not be satisfied by the UT to qualify for such a status. Hence statehood alone should be pressed.
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