On Monday, Speaker of Puducherry Assembly, VP Sivakozhundu, announced that V Narayansamy government has lost its majority in the Union Territory. V. Narayanasamy submitted his resignation as chief minister and the resignations of his Council of Ministers to Lt. Governor Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan, after stepping out of the Assembly. Soundararajan was sworn in last week, after the former Lt. Governor Kiran Bedi was removed from the post
While speaking in the Assembly, Narayanasamy accused the opposition BJP and NR Congress of bringing down his government and also blamed former Lt. Governor Kiran Bedi of trying to topple the government. He said, “Former LG Kiran Bedi and Central Government colluded with the Opposition and tried to topple the government. It is clear that the people of Puducherry trust us. This is a government elected by the people.” He added, “As our MLAs stayed united, we managed to pull off the last 5 years. The Centre has betrayed the people of Puducherry by not granting funds we requested. We formed the government with the support of DMK and independent MLAs. After that, we faced various elections. We have won all the by-elections. It is clear that people of Puducherry trust us.”
After a series of resignations, the Congress-DMK have 12 MLAs (including an Independent who is supporting the government) in the House whose effective strength is now 26, while the opposition alliance has 14 MLAs. Four Congress MLAs, including ex-ministers A Namassivayam (now in BJP) and Malladi Krishna Rao had quit, while another party legislator was earlier disqualified.
The floor test was ordered by the Lt. Governor after a demand for the same came from the Opposition led by All India NR Congress founder N Rangasamy on Thursday, the day Congress leader Rahul Gandhi visited Puducherry to prepare for polls due in May.
