The Congress-led government in Puducherry has fallen, with Chief Minister V Narayanasamy failing to prove majority on the floor of the House on Monday. The confidence motion moved by Narayanasamy was defeated, bringing down the Congress government. After losing the trust vote, Narayanasamy left the Assembly for Raj Nivas to tender his resignation.
Ahead of the floor test, addressing the Assembly, the Chief Minister made an impassioned speech, where he listed the hurdles faced by his government and the people of Puducherry because of the Union government’s intervention in their affairs and failure to release the funds that were meant for the Union territory.
“Despite hurdles, we have worked day and night for the people. Kiran Bedi (who was former Puducherry Lieutenant Governor) colluded with the opposition and tried to topple our government. Because of the support of my MLAs, we were able to complete almost 5 years of our government,” Narayanasamy said.
Just a day ahead of the trust vote, two MLAs from the ruling alliance resigned. The Chief Minister’s Parliamentary Secretary K Lakshminarayanan and DMK MLA K Venkatesan both submitted their resignation letters to Speaker VP Sivakozhundhu on Sunday afternoon. Lakshminaraynan alleged that he was not being given his due importance in the party and that there was recognition for his work. He further claimed that as the government already lacked the necessary numbers to win the floor test, his exit would not make a difference. The DMK MLA, meanwhile, said that the government didn't release the funds necessary to help him carry out development work for his constituency.
In just the last 30 days, five Congress MLAs and a DMK MLA had resigned from the ruling alliance. Another MLA, N Danavelu, was disqualified last year. This meant that the number of MLAs currently in Assembly is 26. Of this, the opposition, consisting of NR Congress (7), AIADMK (4) and BJP (3) had 14 MLAs, while the ruling government had the Congress (9), DMK (2) and an independent MLA, adding up to 12.
The Congress had argued that the nominated BJP MLAs cannot vote but the Speaker allowed this. Meanwhile, the Union government removed Lieutenant-Governor Kiran Bedi from the Union territory and appointed Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan to the post. As soon Bedi was removed, the NR Congress submitted a request for a floor test.
The opposition was certain for the last two weeks that they will topple the existing government, even ahead of the elections. The Congress government, however, believed that they could tackle a floor test.