The travails of spearheading change

Kiran Bedi attributes the clashes with government to her refusal to be a “rubber stamp” administrator

Former Puducherry Lt. Governor Kiran Bedi has, in a new book, attributed the clashes with the government through her term as much to her refusal to be a “rubber stamp” administrator as to the wilful glossing over of the laws by some in the political establishment “in the hope of keeping the Raj Nivas on edge and derailing change”.

According to Ms. Bedi, who recaps in extensive detail the frequent run-ins with the government headed by Congress Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy, the bottomline of what played out in the public eye as a bitter power struggle was the resistance of the ruling political class to comply with the law, oversight of financial approvals and integrity in administration.

The tenure of the country’s first woman IPS officer, who took charge as the 24th Lt. Governor on May 29, 2016, was marked by internecine clashes over rights and powers of governance with the Congress Ministry.