1 October 2000

AFTER MAMTA, PMK TOO DEMANDS DISMISSAL OF PONDICHERRY GOVT

From Jal Khambata

NEW DELHI: The revolt is slowly building up in the ruling National Democratic Alliance as the allies find the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), the main partner, becoming gradually too adamant to concede to any of their demands.

On the heels of Railways Minister Mamta Bannerjee's threat to pull out her Trinamul Congress from the ruling NDA came a similar threat on Sunday from Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) unless the Vajpayee Government dismisses the Pondicherry Government.

Mamta has made an excuse of the petroleum price hike to pull out, her party leaders say she is sore with Vajpayee and Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani for their refusal to dismiss the Jyoti Basu-led left government in West Bengal despite admitting the law and order has broken down.

PMK Chief S Ramadoss met both Vajpayee and Advani on Sunday and submitted a memorandum pointing out breakdown of law and order in Pondicherry to press for removing the Congress-led coalition government. He also cited a murderous attempt on him in the state a few weeks ago.

Ramadoss said his party would have no alternative but to withdraw from NDA if the Centre does nothing in Pondicherry. He said he has urged the Prime Minister, during his 30-minute meeting, to depute an official team to assess the law and order situation.

He also complained to Vajpayee about Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi instigating forces against the PMK which was not good for NDA's unity.Following is the text of the letter submitted by Ramadoss to both Vajpayee and Advani on Sunday:

"The present assembly of Union Territory of Pondicherry which functions directly under the control of Ministry of Home Affairs, with 30 elected Members was constituted after the general elections in 1996. The DMK -TMC and CPI won the election and formed the Ministry. The party position in 1996 was:

DMK front 18 (DMK 7 TMC 6 CPI 2 JD 1 PMK 1 Independent 1). Congress 9 and ADMK 3.

"In March 2000 Congress engineered defection of MLAs belonging to TMC and CPI and formed an alternative government with the following composition.

Congress front 19 (Congress 9 TMC 6 ADMK 6) DMK front now is 11 strong (DMK 8, PMK 2 and JD 1).

"The Congress led Government is undemocratic which is full of defectors and murderers. The Ministers within the Congress coalition Government trade charges and counter charges of murder and corruption making the cabinet of Pondicherry an object of mockery.

"Congress Government in Pondicherry has engineered caste clashes for its own political gain and hence the law and order situation is in a bad shape. The clamping of prohibitory orders in Pondicherry and Karikarl regions under section 144 for one month is an admission of deterioration of law and order situation of Pondicherry.

"There was a deliberate and planned attempt on my life on 17-9-2000 in Embalam constituency of Pondicherry where I was engaged in party work.Till now the real culprits of this violent incident has not been nabbed. But on the contrary the police is harassing and apprehending our party men and is foisting false cases against them. The election to Pondicherry is fast approaching and the congress government is implementing schemes and programmes to entice the voters of Pondicherry to the fold of congress.

"The present government is undemocratic and immoral besides being partisan and inefficient. Therefore in view of PMK the administration of the Union Territory cannot be carried on in accordance with constitution of India. Therefore we urge upon you to dismiss the Pondicherry Government and dissolve assembly, hold fresh election. As a preliminary step the Government of India may send a special team to assess the situation in Pondicherry." END.