“Our government is not a minority,” V Narayanasamy told NDTV.
New Delhi:
The congressional government in Puducherry has slipped into a minority with two resignations in two days, but Chief Minister V Narayanasamy said today he was confident of persuading the two leaders to stay. “Our government is not a minority,” he said in an interview with NDTV.
The resignations of Malladi Krishna Rao and John Kumar, who resigned consecutively, have not been accepted and are still being considered by the president, Narayanasamy said. He also attacked the BJP, accusing them of planning another “Kamal (lotus) operation,” the opposition’s name for what they call the BJP’s strategy of engineering defections and overthrowing governments, in Puducherry.
Four MLAs from Congress have withdrawn just months before Puducherry’s elections due to take place in May. A Namassivayam and E. Theeppainjan resigned on January 25. Malladi Krishna Rao resigned yesterday and John Kumar, today.
Of the 30 MLA elected in the assembly, the Congress had 15 members and, together with the three members of the DMK and an independent member, barely passed the majority mark of 16. After the resignations, the government and the opposition are in 14. Congress has 10 members, which leaves your government one short of the majority mark, which is now 15 with the strength of the assembly dropping to 28.
Just four days ago, Malladi Krishna Rao had traveled to Delhi with Mr. Narayanasamy to meet with President Ram Nath Kovind and request that Kiran Bedi be replaced as deputy governor of Puducherry.
Tonight, Kiran Bedi was removed as Lieutenant Governor.
“We met with the president because Malladi Krishna Rao had been harassed by Kiran Bedi several times. She has attacked him. She has rejected any proposal related to his constituency. I have been fighting for him for at least four years. Kiran Bedi has been interfering in the daily administration of our government and she has been trying to create problems … The people of Puducherry know this. The opposition parties were also attacking us. It was a difficult task for me to run the government for four years and nine months. But despite this, our government delivered services to the people, “said Mr. Narayanasamy.
“The BJP is poaching the MLAs, threatening them. But I know the BJP well, they are making false promises to attract the MLAs. People are talking about it, this MLA has been bought, this minister has been bought,” Narayanasamy said. .
Rao’s resignation was due to irritation with Kiran Bedi, Narayanasamy claimed. “He was agitated because Kiran Bedi was blocking all his projects. He is still with me. I am sure I can persuade him,” he said.
But Rao is believed to be targeting the BJP, like the others who resigned before him, and there are believed to be more leaders in the queue.
“This is the BJP style of operation. They will poach and buy MLA. They have done it in Manipur, Arunachal, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh … they are only buying MLA. Shame on the BJP for targeting elected governments of Congress, “said the Chief Minister.
In the 2016 polls, the BJP contested 18 out of 30 seats and lost all of them.
This time, the party has tasked two senior leaders with managing the Puducherry polls: Arjun Meghwal and Rajiv Chandrashekhar. With regional congressional heavyweights coming on board, the BJP is hoping for better results this time around.
Narayanasamy rejected any threats from the BJP, saying that Puducherry’s voters were different. “The people of Puducherry only opt for secular parties. They will not support any communal elements. People who join the BJP in Puducherry … their political career will be doomed.”
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