Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy tendered his resignation to the Lieutenant Governor on Monday after the Congress government lost its majority in the floor test. After two exits on Sunday, the government’s numbers had dropped to 12 MLAs in the assembly where 14 is the majority mark.
Speaking in the assembly, the chief minister blamed former L-G Kiran Bedi for scuttling the work of the government as well as colluding with the opposition to topple the government. Bedi assumed office of Lt Governor on May 29, 2016, and had been at loggerheads with Narayanasamy on various issues.
“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,” Narayanasamy said. He added, “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.”
The trust vote came a day after one more ruling Congress MLA resigned from his post. K Lakshminarayanan, elected from the Raj Bhavan constituency, tendered his resignation to Assembly Speaker V P Sivakolundhu at the latter’s residence. Later, he told reporters that “this government led by Narayanasamy has lost majority.” Lakshminarayanan said he has also resigned from the party membership. Following his resignation, the second this week, the Congress’ strength further slipped to 13, while the opposition has 14 MLAs in the 33-member house which has five vacancies.
Four Congress MLAs–including ex-ministers A Namassivayam (now in BJP) and Malladi Krishna Rao had quit, while another party legislator was earlier disqualified. Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, handed over additional charge of Puducherry, had on Thursday directed Narayanasamy to prove majority by ordering a floor test on February 22.
Kiran Bedi left for Coimbatore on Sunday enroute to Delhi. She was seen off at Raj Nivas by staff and workers. Before leaving Raj Nivas she told the staff she wished for a prosperous Puducherry. The former IPS officer was keen that there should be ’perfect and corruption free administration and financial prudence.’ She was replaced by Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, who is holding the post of Lt Governor under additional charge.
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