Puducherry govt collapse: Congress claims 'BJP upto old tricks'; adds 'people will fight'

After losing another elected government, Congress hit out at BJP on Monday, saying that the saffron party was up to its old tricks of 'toppling democratically elected govts'. Stating that the BJP believed that the 'will of the people is immaterial to them', Congress said that the people will fight against this - come what may. The Congress-DMK government in Puducherry fell after failing to prove their majority, leading to CM V Narayanasamy resigning from his post.

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Congress loses floor test, CM walks out

Minutes after calling for a floor test, the CM and his MLAs walked out before the motion was put for voting. While  Speaker VP Sivakolundhu declared that the motion stood defeated, Narayanasamy submitted the letter of the resignation of the chief minister and his Council of Ministers to Lt. Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan. His decision comes a day after two more MLAs resigned from the UPA government - Congress' K Lakshminarayanan and DMK's Venkatesan, claiming to be sidelined by the government in its decision-making. 

"Today, we failed the floor test over the confidence motion sought by me, to show that our government has the confidence of the people of the state. In fact, the three nominated members (all BJP MLAs) have no voting right.  After I completed the speech, the issue was raised by Shyanand Raman, stating that the three nominated members were being used by BJP to topple our government, giving a voting right," said the CM.

He added, "The Speaker's ruling is incorrect. BJP govt at the Centre, NR Congress & AIADMK have succeeded in dislodging our govt by using voting power used by 3 nominated members. This is the murder of democracy. The people of Puducherry and this country will teach them a lesson."

BJP taunts Congress as Puducherry govt falls; terms it 'Rahul Gandhi's Midas touch'

Puducherry crisis

The  Puducherry government faced a crisis as 4 Congress MLAs resigned, pushing the 14-seat government into a minority in the 33-seat Assembly. With 2 more MLAs resigning, Congress has been reduced to 9 seats, while ally DMK has 2 seats and 1 Independent MLA. Meanwhile, the Opposition has 14 seats - AINRC has 7 seats, BJP has 3 seats (nominated) and AIADMK has 4 seats. 5 seats lie vacant.

Congress MLAs - A Namassivayam, E.Theeppainjan, Malladi Krishna Rao, John Kumar have cited dissatisfaction with the current government as the reason for their exit - a day ahead of ex-Congress chief Rahul Gandhi's visit. While  A Namassivayam, E.Theeppainjan have already joined BJP, Congress is in a huddle to tackle the situation. Amidst this crisis, President Kovind relieved L-G Kiran Bedi of her duties, replacing her with Soundararajan - who ordered a floor test on Feb 22.

Puducherry CM meets with ally DMK; says 'Will reveal our strategy on Assembly Floor'