Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy on Thursday likened the Union Territory to a “transgender” while complaining about the way the Centre treats it, PTI reported. He said the Centre treats Puducherry as a state in some cases and as a Union Territory in others – “neither here nor there”.

Inaugurating a seminar on fiscal federalism, the chief minister accused the Centre of being inconsistent in its treatment of Puducherry. “For the purpose of Goods and Service Tax and other central schemes, the central government is treating Puducherry as a state and for others as a Union Territory,” he said. “The government of India, whenever it suits them, treats us as per their convenience...I told them at least declare us as transgenders also. We are neither here nor there. This is our position.”

Narayanasamy has repeatedly demanded statehood for Puducherry. In July, the Centre said it had rejected a proposal to grant statehood.

He asked why Puducherry could not be part of the Central Finance Commission despite having a legislature if the newly created Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir could, The Times of India reported. “On one hand, the Union government is ignoring us and on the other, we face administrative bottlenecks,” Narayanaswamy said.

Narayanasamy said the Centre had reduced its budgetary grants to Puducherry from 30% to 26% and the Union Territory was yet to be paid dues of GST compensation for August and September.

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