Asked to Cut His Speech Short, Puducherry MLA Shouts Back at L-G Kiran Bedi

An ugly spat broke out between Puducherry Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi and an AIADMK lawmaker when the former asked the MLA to leave the stage after he had surpassed his speech time.

The government event to mark Puducherry's status as a Union Territory free of open defecation was marred by the on-stage altercation.

In a video of the argument shared by news agency ANI, Kiran Bedi can be seen standing face-to-face with MLA Anbalagan and asking him to leave when the lawmaker shouts back at her, asking her to leave instead.

The governor can be heard saying “please go" and gesturing him to leave when a visibly agitated Anbalagan shouts back to repeat “please go".

According to Bedi, the MLA was not scheduled to speak at the event and he forced his way into the programme. In a statement, she said that she had even asked the organisers to switch off the mike to stop Anbalagan from speaking, when he started shouting.

Kiran Bedi told News18, "The incident was truly unfortunate. According to the minute-by-minute programme, the MLA was not even scheduled to speak. He forced his way before the start of the event and made himself part of the schedule. Once the presentation programme was over, he took the mike and went on and on beyond the reasonable while there was a lot pending on the schedule. He rejected all written slips and messages and scoffed at the requests made by the cabinet ministers and me."

“Since I was presiding over the event, I intervened and personally requested him again. He rejected yet again. I then asked for the mike to be switched off. He continued to be rude to all present on the stage. Then he left in a huff. Incidentally, this is not the first time this MLA has done something like this."

Speaking to the reporters after the incident, legislator Anbalagan said, "MLAs aren't respected at all. Everything is conducted in a very undemocratic manner. She should change her attitude. She is the main person standing as a hurdle in way of development here."

This is not the first time AIADMK MLA Anbalagan has spoken out against L-G Kiran Bedi. Earlier, when the Lt Governor was touring constituencies in Puducherry and visited Anbalagan's constituency, the MLA had confronted her.