Pondy Congress on tenterhooks as 2 more MLAs resign from ruling front

Puducherry: Another Congress MLA of Puducherry K Lakshminarayanan and partner in the ruling alliance Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MLA Venkatesan resigned from the Assembly on Sunday, throwing ruling Congress in a difficulty a day before the crucial floor test.

Mr Lakshminarayanan, elected from Raj Bhavan constituency and the parliamentary secretary to Chief Minister V Narayanasamy, submitted his resignation letter to Speaker V Sivakolunthu.

DMK MLA Mr.Venkatesan elected from Thattanchavady constituency in the by-election submitted his resignation to speaker stating that he is resigning his post with effect from today, February 21.

With this the strength of the DMK reduced to two and the ruling side to 12 as against the 14 of the opposition.

After the resignation of Lakshminarayanan, the strength of the ruling Congress has come down to nine as four MLAs-- A Namasivayam, Thepainthan, Malladi Krishna Rao and John Kumar--resigned from the Assembly earlier this week.

The opposition has submitted a memorandum to newly appointed Lt Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan for a floor test, which was accepted by the latter.

The Lt Governor has asked Mr Narayanasamy to prove majority on the floor of the House by 1700 hrs of Monday. A special session has been called for the floor test.

At present the strength of the House is 27 with Congress nine, DMK two and one Independent in ruling, totaling to 12.

The opposition has 14 members with N R Congress seven members, AIADMK four and three of the BJP (nominated).

In the 33-member territorial assembly, three are nominated members while six seats are presently vacant.
The seats falling vacant are of Bahour MLA Dhanavelu(disqualified), Villianur legislative A Namasivayam(resigned),Ossudu MLA Thepainthan (resigned),Yanam legislative Malladi Krishna Rao (resigned),Kamaraj Nagar MLA-John Kumar (resigned) and Raj Bhawan legislative-K Lakshminarayanan (resigned).

As per sources, Mr Lakshminarayanan may join N R Congress. (UNI)