Puducherry Chief Minister Narayanaswamy fails to prove majority, Congress government collapses
Congress-led Pondicherry government plunged into crisis after two MLAs resigned on Sunday, bringing down its strength to 12 in the 33-member Assembly.
FollowPuducherry: The Congress government in Puducherry today sought a vote of confidence and failed to prove majority after two new resignations on Sunday. Chief Minister V Narayanasamy had the support of 12 MLAs in the Assembly where 14 is the majority mark.
As he started the Trust Vote debate, however, the Chief Minister claimed he still had a majority. If the government falls, Puducherry may be placed under President's Rule just months before elections.
Apparently referring to former Lt Governor Kiran Bedi constantly being at loggerheads with him on administrative matters, he said that he had, however, delivered for the union territory, including effectively handling the Covid-19 pandemic.
He lashed out at Bedi, saying she had "conspired" against the government on matters including revenue generation.
"Those rejected by people conspired to topple our government but we stayed firm due to our resilience," he said.
Yesterday, the ruling coalition lost two more MLAs; Congress's K Lakshminarayanan and its partner DMK's K Venkatesan resigned. Four-time Congress MLA Lakshminarayanan said he was upset at not getting "recognition" in the party. He said he wasn't made a minister or Speaker nor party chief and that the rival NR Congress and the BJP had approached him.
With the two resignations, the Congress government's strength in the Puducherry legislative assembly fell to 12 and the rival NR Congress-led alliance has 14 MLAs.
