Puducherry, Feb 17 (IANS): Finally, Malladi Krishna Rao who resigned from the Congress party to join the BJP seems to have fulfilled his by ensuring the removal of Kiran Bedi as Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry.

Rao had been in constant war with Bedi for the last three and half years, over several key issues that were handled by ministries' under him.

A senior Congress leader from Puducherry told IANS that Rao's foremost demand was to ensure that Bedi was removed, for that he had fought on a number of occasions. "He had taken it personally, when Bedi had obliquely referred to him as a mentally challenged person. This happened at the beginning of their long-drawn battle," the source added.

The source added that Rao being minister had even staged a walk-out over her delivering her customary address to the legislature session annually. "On one occasion he even wore a black shirt in protest of her presence in the Legislature and he declared openly that was wearing the black shirt in protest of she being lieutenant governor," the source explained.

The source added that among all ministers, Bedi used to unusually delay in clearing files related to Rao's departments.

"According to him, she had targeted him by unsettling his favourite officers. Never cleared files without delaying it by months. Many pro-people schemes planned by him were held for nearly six to eight months. This used to invariably lead to friction among both. He used to sit in protests in front of Raj Nivas. This is the one reason why he left us. Only to teach her a lesson of her lifetime," the source claimed.

The source added based on this one can safely conclude that he must have placed demand with BJP high command to remove her from her coveted post. "He cannot stand by her. He had vowed in front of Congress leaders that he would do anything to get rid of her from Puducherry and he must have fulfilled it," a leader said.