Pondichery, Mar 31:
AIADMK General Secretary and former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edapaddi K Palaniswami today asserted the party’s commitment to obtain statehood for Puducherry the with the party’s MPs from Tamil Nadu also rallying behind Puducherry MP in the initiative.
Edappadi K. Palaniswami, was campaigning for G. Thamizhvendhan, the party’s candidate for Puducherry Lok Sabha constituency.
The victory of AIADMK candidate in the upcoming Lok Sabha election will pave the way for establishing AIADMK’s rule in Puducherry after the 2026 Assembly election, Palaniswami said.
Addressing a public meeting at Uppalam ground, Palaniswami touched upon the Union Territory’s demand for Statehood. Puducherry’s status of being a Union Territory was a hurdle in its growth. Several schemes and programmes, including the plan to construct a new Assembly complex-cum-administrative building could not be implemented because of lack of decision-making powers for the elected government, he said.
There was a need to liberate the Union Territory from the administrative powers of the Lieutenant Governor, he added. “The government here cannot function like the one in Tamil Nadu. The elected government in Puducherry has no power. The entire power is vested with the Lt. Governor. This situation has to change. Our party MPs from Tamil Nadu will work with Mr. Thamizhvendhan in Parliament to get Statehood for Puducherry,” Mr. Palaniswami said.
Launching an attack on the Congress, the DMK and the AINRC for not realising the demand for Statehood, Mr. Palaniswami said the AIADMK would be the voice of Puducherry in the Parliament. He also flayed successive Congress and AINRC governments for not holding local body polls in Puducherry for several years. The sale of ganja has also gone up in the Union Territory, he charged.
“The Congress and the DMK have ruled Puducherry for 43 years. But nothing has changed in the Union Territory. The development of the U.T. can happen only after AIADMK comes to power in Puducherry,” he said.
