Puducherry Govt fall: Political Defection or ignorance of Congress leadership?

Recently, the V. Narayansamy-led Government of Puducherry collapsed on the floor of Assembly becoming the second Congress Government, after Madhya Pradesh, which has been dislodged within the period of a year, in an identical manner. While Congress is lashing out at BJP for creating political turmoil in the Union Territory, questions have also been raised over the Central leadership of the party for not putting up enough efforts to safeguard its Government, says senior journalist and political analyst Rasheed Kidwai in conversation with ETV Bharat reporter Niyamika Singh.

New Delhi: Earlier today, the union cabinet recommended President's rule in Puducherry as BJP and its allies did not stake a claim to form government in Union Territory. The Congress-led Government had fallen just a day after the party's former president Rahul Gandhi visited Puducherry. It somehow shows that the Congress leadership in poor light for being ignorant of the political crisis in its ruling state even when it was evident that its ship was sinking.

However, senior Journalist and political analyst Rasheed Kidwai also had a different opinion over the matter. While speaking to ETV Bharat, he said, "Obviously, the Central leadership cannot escape its responsibility and it is at fault that it is not able to keep the party united. But I think, even if they wanted to, there is no scope of principles and morality in politics. Like in Madhya Pradesh, they had their best man Kamal Nath but even he couldn't save his government."

He further explained, "Political defection is considered as a trend of curse in Parliamentary democracy. In recent years, whether it is about Goa or Manipur or Karnataka or Madhya Pradesh, it has become an art to engineer a majority. So, it is not a question of Congress or BJP, this is something which is very unfortunate. The blame has to be shared by Congress but there were some events which were beyond the control of the party."

Read: B.S. Bassi's UPSC tenure to end, in line for Puducherry Lt Guv?

Meanwhile, Kiran Bedi also played a vital role in the political turmoil in Puducherry, while being the Lieutenant Governor of the Union Territory. Narayanasamy had often accused her of disrupting the Governance process while interfering in the work of elected government. She can be held responsible for making the legislators "tired" and "irritated" with her style of working.

"The role of Governor or Lieutenant Governor needs to be revisited because most of them act as an agent of the Central Government. Their mandate is to protect the Constitution. Now, It has become like two teams are playing a match and the umpire who is supposed to supervise also aligns himself or herself with a team. This is unfair and unethical," Kidwai asserted.

What Congress has to say?

Congress is repeatedly accusing BJP of trying Operation Kamal in Congress-ruled states to "topple" the Government. The party has alleged that BJP is "misusing" central agencies and other means to force opposition MLAs to quit their parties.

Speaking to ETV Bharat, Congress leader Pramod Tiwari said, "No one wants to join BJP. They have spent crores of money and even misused their power of being at Center but still, they are unable to form a Government in Puducherry. It is because people will not accept it and that is why those MLAs who had resigned are not willing to support BJP."

He also lashed out at Kiran Bedi saying, "Governor of any state or Union territory is the agent of Central Government. The Central Government had created such a situation that the elected Puducherry Government won't be able to work properly. Therefore, Kiran Bedi didn't fulfil her constitutional responsibilities in Puducherry."

Watch: Fall of Puducherry govt result of internal Congress feud, says BJP leader