Puducherry: The lieutenant governor called the chief minister and ordered him to do a soil test.
Puducherry:
The congressional government in Puducherry collapsed after losing its majority and Chief Minister V Narayanasamy will resign. After two departures on Sunday, the government’s figures dropped to 12 MLA in the assembly, where 14 is the majority mark. When the debate on the vote of confidence began, the chief minister claimed that he still had a majority.
Here’s your 10-point cheat sheet for the Puducherry political crisis:
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Mr. Narayanasamy accused former Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi of “colluding with the opposition” to try to overthrow his government, although his MLA stood together. He accused Kiran Bedi of scuttling all the moves of his government and denying core benefits.
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Yesterday, the ruling coalition lost two more MLAs; K Lakshminarayanan from Congress and K Venkatesan from his partner DMK resigned. Four-time MLA congressman Lakshminarayanan said he was upset that he was not getting “recognition” from the party. He said he was not appointed a minister or president or party chief and that the rival NR Congress and the BJP had approached him.
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With the two resignations, the strength of the congressional government in Puducherry’s legislature dropped to 12 and the rival congressional-led alliance NR has 14 MLAs.
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Sources say Congress had previously thought about asking the president not to allow the three nominated MLAs, all members of the BJP, to vote. If these MLAs were excluded, the ruling Congress would have a majority. However, the Supreme Court in a previous ruling had allowed nominated MLAs to vote.
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Tamilisai Lieutenant Governor Soundararajan called the chief minister on Thursday and ordered him to do a soil test on Monday citing the opposition’s position that his government no longer has a majority. He called for the vote a day after taking office following Kiran Bedi’s sudden removal from office as lieutenant governor on Tuesday.
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The crisis in Congress was precipitated by four resignations, two in January and two last week. Both leaders who resigned in January have joined the BJP and the rest are inclined to do the same. The Chief Minister insisted that the last two resignations had not been accepted and that the MLAs would come. That possibility seems distant now.
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The Chief Minister accused the BJP of attempting to overthrow his government by adopting “Operation Kamala”, the name given by BJP critics to what they call the plan to destabilize governments by engineering defections in the ruling parties.
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Four outcomes in Puducherry are considered probable. The lieutenant governor can ask the NR Congress to form a government with only three months to go, or ask for the government of the president.
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The collapse of Congress is seen to benefit the BJP ahead of elections scheduled for May in Puducherry, along with Tamil Nadu and three other states.
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Congress has lost its only government in the south. The BJP is likely part of a ruling coalition led by the NR Congress and its three MLAs, all nominated members, could become ministers. Power in Puducherry, assesses the BJP, would also help its cause in neighboring Tamil Nadu and add to its account of southern governments after Karnataka.
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