Puducherry: An ugly spat between Puducherry's Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) MLA  Anbalagan broke out during Gandhi Jayanti celebrations on October 2. This unfolded after the MLA began to criticise the Puducherry administration. 

Kiran Bedi alleged that Anbalagan was being rude to her and claimed that she had witnessed similar misbehaviour of his in the past. The offended MLA, who stormed out of the venue, met Tamil Nadu's legislative assembly speaker V Vaithilingam to draw his attention to the incident.

 AIADMK legislator Anbalagan submitted a letter of complaint to Vaithiyalingam.  AIADMK legislators Bhaskar, Vayapuri Manikandan and  Assana were with  Anbalagan when he met the speaker. 

Bedi also claimed that Anbalagan went beyond the reasonable time when there was a long programme to follow and he rejected the request to stop and continued to be rude. Talking to reporters, the MLA claimed that he had been insulted. He also criticised Bedi and questioned whether she is the princess of Puducherry.

The incident happened in the presence of several ministers during the function held to declare Puducherry open defecation free with Bedi as the chief guest. The MLA spoke about the Centre’s Swachch Bharat Abhiyan for maintaining cleanliness in his speech.

The Lt Governor, who was attending the speech delivered in Tamil, appeared to indicate that the MLA was going beyond the time limit provided. However, Anbalagan kept expressing his views following which his mike was forcefully switched off.

Later, Bedi said, “Please go. Do not spoil the function MLA.” The MLA then left the venue. The MLA said he would consult the AIADMK high command to ensure that respect and prestige of an elected member is protected.