Puducherry govt loses trust vote: CM Narayanaswamy submits resignation

Amid political crisis and rumble before polls in the Union Territory, a floor test in Puducherry Assembly will be taking place on Monday. This move comes after two Congress MLAs A John Kumar and Lakshmi Narayanan and DMK MLA K Venkatesan resigned from the Assembly.

Amid political crisis and rumble before polls in the Union Territory, a floor test in Puducherry Assembly will be taking place on Monday as per directions of Lieutenant Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan. This move comes after two Congress MLAs A John Kumar and Lakshmi Narayanan and DMK MLA K Venkatesan resigned from the Assembly. The Lt Governor earlier ordered a floor test in assembly on February 22. If both the government and the opposition fall short of numbers, Puducherry is likely headed for President’s rule just three months before elections.

Ahead of the floor test, Chief Minister V Narayanasamy held a meeting with Congress and DMK MLAs to discuss further strategy on Sunday. Congress MLA K Lakshmi Narayanan and DMK MLA K Venkatesan tendered their resignation from the Assembly Speaker VP Sivakolundhu. Sivakolundhu refutes any plan to meet the Governor. With the two resignations, the Congress government’s strength in the Puducherry legislative assembly has fallen to 12 out of a total of 26.

Amid the political turmoil, Kiran Bedi was removed from her post by President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday as the Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry. Following Bedi’s removal, Soundararajan formally took additional charge as Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry. PM Modi will be visiting the poll-bound state on February 25, as per the statement of the BJP’s Puducherry unit. Prime Minister will address a public meeting at AFT mill Thildal.

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Congress MLA A John Kumar resigned from the party on Tuesday, citing “dissatisfaction with the Congress government” in the Union territory. Kumar, who was the MLA of Kamaraj Nagar quit the party ahead of Gandhi’s scheduled visit to Puducherry.