AIADMK reveals opposition's next move in Puducherry: 'To form govt only after election'

In a crucial development on Tuesday, AIADMK declared that the opposition has no intention of forming a new government in Puducherry before the Assembly polls. A day earlier, the Congress-led government in the Union Territory collapsed as it had the support of only 12 MLAs in the 26-member Puducherry Assembly. After losing the trust vote, CM V Narayanasamy submitted his resignation to the L-G Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan.

Speaking to the media, AIADMK leader A Anbalagan defended the move pointing out that election dates are likely to be announced in the next 10 days. Moreover, he asserted that the All India NR Congress-led alliance will form a government after winning the Assembly polls due in April-May this year. At present, the opposition's strength in the Assembly is 14 with All India NR Congress, AIADMK and BJP having 7, 4 and three MLAs respectively. Thus, the L-G might ask Narayansamy to continue as a stop-gap arrangement or prefer President's Rule. 

Read: Congress Bigwigs Respond as Puducherry Government Falls; Make Big Claim Against The BJP

Parties blame BJP for government collapse

In his speech before the floor test, V Narayanasamy accused former Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi and the Centre of colluding with the opposition to topple his government. Interestingly, Bedi was replaced by Telangana Governor Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan on February 16. According to him, the Union government betrayed the people of Puducherry by not granting requisite funds. Highlighting that his government had won all the by-elections in the last five years, he affirmed that the people of the Union Territory has trust in the government. 

Congress leader V Narayanasamy remarked, "Former LG Kiran Bedi and Central Government colluded with the Opposition and tried to topple the government. As our MLAs stayed united we managed to pull off the last 5 years. The Centre has betrayed the people of Puducherry by not granting funds we requested."

"We formed the government with the support of DMK and independent MLAs. After that, we faced various elections. We have won all the by-elections. It is clear that people of Puducherry trust us," he added. While many opposition parties including DMK held BJP responsible for the collapse of the government, CPI(M) had a slightly different take. In a reference to the resignation of 5 Congress legislators- A Namassivayam, E Theeppainjan, John Kumar, Malladi Krishna Rao and K Lakshminarayanan, Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan lamented that Congress had reduced itself to a "commodity" that can be bought by BJP. At this juncture, he stressed that Puducherry needs to strengthen the Left and other forces which are unwavering in their defence of "democracy, secularism and development".

Read: VCK Blames BJP For Puducherry Govt Collapse, Calls It 'dress Rehearsal' For Tamil Nadu