Puducherry CM V Narayanasamy has lost the trust vote and has walked out with the ruling MLAs after his concluding speech, where he described the situation in the Union Territory as “political prostitution”. Puducherry Speaker VP Sivakozhundhu said that the government couldn’t prove its majority, after the floor test. Political observers have been expecting it since five government MLAs quit in a month.
With the resignation of five members, the Puducherry government was heading into an implosion but still held hope. Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, who took over the additional charge of Puducherry after Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi left, had asked the Narayanasamy government to prove the majority. However, on the eve of the floor test, two more MLAs quit, pushing the House strength to 26, with 12 for the government and 14 for the opposition including the three nominated members.
“Former Lieutenant Governor 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 five years. The Centre has betrayed the people of Puducherry by not granting funds we requested,” Narayanasamy said during the assembly session today. He also added that the BJP Centre is trying to implement Hindi forcefully in Puducherry, which follows the two-language system.
Addressing the assembly, before walking out, Narayanasamy said, “The opposition parties rejected by the people have joined together to topple the elected government. The BJP-led Centre has dethroned elected governments in several states. It failed in Rajasthan, and now they are attempting the same in Puducherry. MLAs should stay loyal to the party. MLAs who have resigned will not be able to face the people, as people will call them opportunists.”
With Puducherry rushing to the election this April, Congress is hopeful of returning to power. The party’s senior leader Rahul Gandhi had arrived in the Union Territory to interact with the people. While social media was buzzing with his informal interaction with students, they also called out the mistranslation of a woman’s comment during Rahul’s interaction with the public.
