Months before the Assembly elections in the Union Territory, the Congress government has lost its majority in Puducherry with four MLAs resigning since last month, two in the past two days. The latest to join the exit list is MLA A. John Kumar, who tendered his resignation to Speaker V.P. Sivakolunthu.
With the latest development, both the ruling Congress-DMK alliance and AIADMK-BJP alliance have 14 MLAs each in the 33-member House. The Congress has 10 MLAs besides three DMK MLAs and an Independent supporting the ruling coalition. The Opposition comprises three nominated MLAs of the BJP, seven MLAs of NR Congress, and four of AIADMK.
The exits are embarrassing for the Congress just before Rahul Gandhi’s visit to Puducherry tomorrow to prep election strategy. This is his first visit since the party took power in the Union Territory.
The Opposition has demanded a floor test in the House, charging that the Narayanasamy government is already in minority.
After the resignation drama, Puducherry Social Welfare Minister Kandasamy on Tuesday said that the cabinet headed by Chief Minister Narayanasamy will resign. In a video, Kandaswamy said: “Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Puducherry L-G Kiran Bedi have been harassing the Congress government for four and a half years. They are trying to dissolve the regime. We are working to dissolve the cabinet headed by CM Narayanasamy and win the Assembly elections again.”
Two of the MLAs—A. Namassivayam and E.Theeppainjan—resigned on January 25. Both joined the BJP. On Monday, Malladi Krishna Rao quit and on Tuesday, Congress MLA from Kamaraj Nagar constituency, A. John Kumar, resigned from his post, citing “dissatisfaction with the Congress government”.
This comes ahead of the Assembly polls scheduled to be held in the Union Territory between April and May this year.
Chief Election Commissioner of India (CEC) Sunil Arora has said that the election will be held at the same time in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. However, the dates of the polls are yet to be announced.