Bedi’s water remarks rock Assembly

Leader of Opposition in the Assembly MK Stalin and Law Minister CVe Shanmugham exchanged heated arguments over the recent remarks made by Bedi on the Chennai water crisis. However, Speaker P Dhanapal expunged the remarks from the Assembly proceedings.

“Lt Governor Kiran Bedi has criticised Tamil Nadu government as corrupt and inefficient, but the L-G had also defamed the people of Tamil Nadu. I raised this issue in the Assembly, but I was denied the opportunity to express my views,” Stalin told reporters after staging a walkout from the Assembly over the issue.

“The silence of the state Ministers on Chennai’s drinking water crisis remarks by Bedi shows that the Ministers have accepted the charge without any shame,” Stalin said questioning why there is shortage of water despite the government spending Rs 46,000 crore on water irrigation projects.

Referring to Kiran Bedi’s tweet and the media reports, Stalin alleged that the Lt Governor had defamed the people of Tamil Nadu. To this, Law Minister Shanmugham also criticised her. However, Speaker Dhanapal expunged the debate citing that the Assembly rules does not allow the elected members to criticise the Governors. “The members can express their views outside the Assembly hall, but I will not allow anything that will violate the Assembly protocol,” Dhanapal said denying opportunity for both the opposition and ruling to discuss about Bedi.

Earlier, Stalin who mooted a call attention motion on drinking water crisis, quoted the centre’s Niti Aayog report which stated that major cities like Chennai will see extinction of ground water by 2020. “Due to poor administration this warning has turned out to be true, a year in advance. And last year in September I raised the same issue in the Assembly and there are no long-term water solutions,” the DMK leader said.

Echoing the views of Stalin, Congress floor leader KR Ramaswamy also demanded a whole day to speak on water scarcity issue.

Replying on the issue, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami listed out the measures taken by the state to meet the drinking water crisis.

CM also asked the Congress and DMK alliance to get Cauvery water from Karnataka run by the Congress coalition. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi assured that he will help the Karnataka people to build a dam across Cauvery at Mekedatu. Will the Opposition leaders in TN dare to question Rahul Gandhi and Janata Dal leader HD Kumaraswamy on Cauvery water row, Palaniswami wondered.

The AIADMK which chose to avoid a debate on the controversial remark of Kiran Bedi in the Assembly issued a statement later condemning her.

AIADMK leader and former minister B Valarmathi in a strongly worded statement condemned Bedi for her remarks against the Tamil Nadu government. It is a fact that the government is supplying drinking water and fighting against drought, but Bedi, who is a Lt Governor has failed to understand the seriousness and the sensitivity of the issue. Bedi had also been a former bureaucrat, but the she is usingsocial media to spreadbaseless and senseless remarks which is unwarranted, Valaramathi said.

AMMK leader TTV Dhinakaran in his tweet condemned Bedi for her remarks. “A Lt Governor commenting about the public in neighbouring Tamil Nadu is not fair on her part and the she should question those who are supporting this government for the past two years,”Dhinakaran tweeted.