Hyderabad: Following the removal of Kiran Bedi as a Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry, Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundarajan has been given additional charge of the Union Territory (UT).
The newly appointed Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry, Tamilisai Soundararajan, on Thursday directed the Assembly Secretariat to convene the House on February 22. A press release issued by Raj Nivas said the single agenda of the session would be to determine whether or not the Chief Minister enjoys the confidence of the House.
In the 2016 Puducherry Assembly elections, a Congress-led alliance formed the government, after the party won 15 seats with alliance partners Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) winning three seats and one Independent candidate.
Kiran Bedi Factor
What had shaken the status quo in Puducherry politics was undoubtedly the entry of Bedi as Lt. Governor. Her role was being largely played out in the past four years as a self-styled cop than a Governor. She was often accused of disrupting the governance process carried out by the elected government.
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Bedi made it difficult to retrieve their investments. But her actions were often derailing administrative hierarchies, leading to chaos at the top administrative layers. Some of the leaders realised that being part of the Congress or the DMK wouldn’t help them in the long run as the Governor, at least for the next four years, would be controlled by Delhi,” said a senior bureaucrat.
Narayansamy had many battles to fight as Chief Minister. When Bedi was the roadblock to implement welfare schemes and basic administrative processes, he knew his party was also getting weaker.
BJP nomination of MLAs in floor test
Narayanswamy failed to appoint the nominated MLAs. Lieutenant Governor choose this chance and appointed 3 BJP Mla's. These nominated BJP MLA's going to vote first time in the Puducherry Assembly floor test.
Congress' trouble equals BJP's resignation formula
The Congress party had witnessed a spate of resignations in recent weeks. PWD minister A Namassivayam (who was also former PCC President) and Ossudu constituency MLA Theeppainthan tendered their resignations to Speaker V P Sivakozhunthu on January 25, 2021.
Namassivayam also resigned from the post of Minister and MLA. They were accompanied by state BJP president V Saminathan when they met the Speaker. Later on, Namassivayam and his supporter and former Congress MLA E Theeppainthan from Puducherry joined the BJP in the presence of the party's national general secretary Arjun Singh in Delhi on January 28.
Health Minister Malladi Krishna Rao took to Twitter on February 15 to announce his resignation from the post of MLA in the Puducherry Assembly.
Ahead of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s visit to Puducherry on February 17, the ruling party on February 16 suffered yet another jolt, with one more legislator, A. John Kumar, resigning his MLA’s post, thereby bringing the strength of the Congress-DMK to combine in the House on a par with the opposition.
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The recent resignations have brought down the strength of the Assembly from 33 to 28. Together with its alliance partner the DMK’s three MLAs and the support of an Independent, the ruling party has a strength of 14 in the currently 28 member house.
Present party postions
Congress has a strength of 10 while DMK has three. All-India NR Congress has seven lawmakers, AIADMK four, BJP three (all nominated with voting rights) and one independent who has supported the government all along. Four Congress MLAs have resigned and one member had been disqualified. The simple majority in the assembly with the reduced strength is 15.
The opposition has been demanding the resignation of Narayansamy since February 16 when his confidante John Kumar quit as MLA.
Narayansamy said his government enjoyed the majority even as the Congress, eyeing to retain power in the assembly elections, has been jolted by the spate of resignations, including that of two ministers.
Tamilisai Soundararajan's new innings in Puducherry
Kiran Bed's exit comes at a time when Puducherry is in the midst of political instability. Dr.Soundararajan, who is perceived to be cordial towards political leaders of all hues, is expected to restore some measure of cohesion between Raj Nivas and the rest of the official machinery, irrespective of the outcome of the floor test.
