After it became apparent that he had lost the confidence of the House, Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy on Monday submitted his resignation to Lieutenant Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan.
Though a Motion of Confidence moved by Narayanasamy in the Assembly was not put to vote, Speaker VP Sivakolandhu announced that it stood defeated after the Chief Minister, questioning the right of the three nominated members to vote, led a walkout of the ruling Congress-DMK legislators.
Opposition MLAs numbering 14 from the All India NR Congress (7), AIADMK (4) and BJP (3 nominated) were in the House, when the Speaker gave his ruling, media reports said.
“We have submitted the resignation to the Lieutenant Governor. It is now for the Lieutenant Governor to decide,” Narayanasamy said. “In the Assembly, we said only the elected members can vote. The Speaker did not agree and we walked out,” he reportedly said.
Resignations by half-a-dozen legislators – five from the Congress including two ministers and one from the DMK – in recent weeks and the disqualification of a Congress legislator last year, had reduced the government to a minority. The House strength had come down to 26 from 33 due to which the opposition outnumbered the ruling alliance – Congress (9 including Speaker), DMK (2) and Independent (1), the reports added.
With this the Congress lost its only government in the south. As the Assembly polls in the union territory are due in May, it remains to be seen if Lieutenant Governor recommends President`s rule or invite NR Congress-led opposition alliance to form the government.
After his hard-hitting speech, slamming the Centre for colluding with the opposition to topple his government and arguments over voting rights of three nominated MLAs, the chief minister and his MLAs walked out of the House.
Addressing the Assembly ahead of floor test, he alleged that the BJP is derailing India`s democratic system. “What is happening in Puducherry now is political prostitution. But the truth will prevail,” he said.
He alleged that former Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi and the Centre colluded with the opposition to destabilize his government.
Naranasamy, whose government slipped into minority due to resignation of six MLAs of the ruling alliance during the last one month, said MLAs who resigned will not be able to face the people as people will call them opportunists. “As our MLAs stayed united we managed to pull off the last five years. The Centre has betrayed people of Puducherry by not granting funds we requested,” he said.
