VCK blames BJP for Puducherry govt collapse, calls it 'dress rehearsal' for Tamil Nadu

Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) MP 'Thol' Thirumavalavan has accused the BJP of orchestrating the fall of the Narayanasamy government in Puducherry and called it a 'dress rehearsal' for Tamil Nadu. The Congress government led by V Narayanasamy was forced to resign after losing the majority in the Assembly following two Independent MLAs withdrawing their support to the Congress-DMK alliance, amid a larger string of exits. Vowing to teach BJP a 'befitting' lesson in the upcoming Assembly elections, VCK's Thirumavalavan accused BJP of trampling democratic protocols across India to capture power in states using 'uncivilized' maneuvers. 

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The VCK MP claimed that the BJP had formed the government in states like Goa, Karnataka, Meghalaya, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh by disrespecting the people's mandate. He accused the BJP of using horse-trading and other intimidation tactics and claimed that Congress had secured a majority in the abovementioned states. Thirumavalavan claimed that the Congress MLAs in Puducherry were resigning owing to pressure from the BJP and said that it was against the wishes of the people of Puducherry. 

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Thirumavalavan claimed that 'Sanatana forces' (BJP) were going to expand their actions in Puducherry and cautioned other parties to learn from what was happening in the UT. The VCK MP claimed that it was a dress rehearsal for what was going to happen in Tamil Nadu and slammed political parties for giving tickets to 'opportunists' who lacked commitment to ideologies. Thirumavalavan said that the BJP was not capable of winning even a single seat and alleged the use of backdoor tactics to form government in Puducherry. The three BJP MLAs in Puducherry are all nominated representatives.

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Puducherry government collapse 

On February 17, Leader of Opposition in the Puducherry assembly N Rangasamy and 13 other MLAs called on Raj Nivas and submitted a letter saying that the V Narayansamy-led government has lost its majority. This, after 4 Congress legislators- A Namassivayam, E Theeppainjan, John Kumar, Malladi Krishna Rao resigned and N Dhanavelou was subsequently disqualified. The following day, N Rangasamy, AIADMK MLA A Anbalagan and nominated MLA V Saminathan met recently-appointed L-G Tamilisai Soundararajan and reiterated their request for the current government to prove its majority on the floor of the House. Consenting to this demand, the L-G directed that a special Assembly session be called only for the purpose of conducting the trust vote. Meanwhile, the government plunged into further crisis after Congress MLA K Lakshminarayanan and DMK legislator Venkatesan resigned on February 21, a day before the floor test. 

In his speech before floor the test on Monday, V Narayanasamy accused former Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi and the Centre of colluding with the opposition to topple his government. Thereafter, the ruling coalition MLAs staged a walkout from the House after Narayanasamy moved the motion seeking a vote of confidence.  The Congress-led alliance lost its majority as it had the support of only 12 MLAs in the 26-member Puducherry Assembly (33 at full strength). At present, the opposition has 14 MLAs. After losing the trust vote, CM Narayanasamy has submitted his resignation to the L-G. 

The fall of the Puducherry government comes just weeks before the assembly's term was to expire and fresh elections held.

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