Vijayan dubs Puducherry govt's fall as 'business deal'; flays Cong MLAs for jumping ship

Weighing in on the collapse of the V Narayanasamy-led government in Puducherry, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday dubbed it as a "business deal". Calling out this "shameful chapter" in democracy, he castigated BJP for trying to replace democracy with money and communalism. However, a large part of his critique was reserved for Congress- CPI(M)'s main rival in Kerala. In a reference to the resignation of five Congress legislators- A Namassivayam, E Theeppainjan, John Kumar, Malladi Krishna Rao and K Lakshminarayanan, he lamented that Congress had reduced itself to a "commodity" that can be bought by BJP.

At such a juncture, he stressed that Puducherry needs to strengthen the Left and other forces which are unwavering in their defence of "democracy, secularism and development". Earlier in the day, 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 the majority as it had the support of only 12 MLAs in the 26-member Puducherry Assembly. After losing the trust vote, the CM submitted his resignation to the L-G. 

Read: BJP's Chandrasekhar Reacts To Puducherry Govt Fall; Says 'Cong-DMK Destroyed UT's Economy'

'People of Puducherry trust us'

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.

Read: BJP Taunts Congress As Puducherry Govt Falls; Terms It 'Rahul Gandhi's Midas Touch'