CM resigns as Cong-DMK govt loses trust vote in Puducherry

Puducherry: Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy resigned on Monday after the Congress-DMK government lost the Confidence vote in the Assembly.

Mr Narayanasamy later called on Lt.Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan and tendered his resignation along with his Council of Ministers.

Now it is up to the Lt.Governor whether to invite the opposition to form a government for the next three months or to impose President’s Rule in the Union territory.The term of Congress-led government expires on June 8.

All the members (both from the ruling side and opposition ) were present in the house for the floor test.With the resignation of seven members from the Congress-DMK, its strength came down to 12 as against the 14 of the opposition.

The present strength in the Assembly is 26.

Party position in the House : Congress 9 (including Speaker), DMK 2 and Independent one.

Opposition : N R Congress-7, AIADMK -4, Nominated -3 (BJP).

Cong-DMK govt is sixth to be toppled in UT

Puducherry:The Congress-DMK government headed by Mr V Narayanasamy was the 6th government to be toppled in the Union Territory.Earlier, Chief Ministers --- Mr M O H Farook, Mr V Vaithilingam and Mr N Rangaswamy only completed their five-year tenure.

The other governments toppled in the UT were : DMK-CPI coalition government (1969 to 1973), AIADMK government headed by S Ramaswami --- 21 days in 1974, AIADMK government headed by S Ramaswami –one year in 1977, DMK-Congress government led by M D R Ramachandran -1980 to 1983, DMK-Janata Dal Government led by M D R Ramachandran –One year in 1990.

Trouble started one and a half year ago

Trouble started in the government about one-and-a-half years back when the Congress legislator from Bahour Constituency Dhanavelu was disqualified as he had raised a revolt against the government.

With hindrances to implement welfare schemes in Puducherry allegedly from the Centre and former Lt. Governor Kiran Bedi, Mr Narayanasamy had managed to pull on the government till today.

With the BJP allegedly playing in the background, former PWD minister A Namassivayam along with a member from Congress Party Oussudu Thepainthan resigned and joined the BJP.

The resignation of two members was followed by Health Minister Malladi Krishna Rao.Later, John Kumar, Lakshminarayanan and Venkatesan (DMK) resigned at regular intervals reducing the government to a minority.

Subsequent to this, Lt.Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan in a letter to the Chief Minister asked him to prove his majority on the floor of the house before 5 PM on February 22, after a memorandum was submitted by the opposition parties requesting her to ask Mr Narayanasamy to prove his majority.

The entire proceedings in the house was videographed and as the members from the treasury bench staged a walkout, the Speaker declared that the confidence motion was defeated without voting, forcing Mr Narayanasamy to tender his resignation along with his Council of Ministers to the Lt.Governor. (UNI)