Puducherry govt rattled as fourth MLA quits

Congress lawmaker John Kumar representing Kamaraj Nagar became the fourth MLA to quit. He turned in his resignation to the House Speaker.

Puducherry: John Kumar, MLA of Kamaraj Nagar constituency has resigned from the Congress party citing 'dissatisfaction' with the government. John is the fourth Congress MLA to tender resignation from the party. He submitted his resignation letter to the Speaker directly.

Health Minister Malladi Krishna Rao, Former Minister Namachchivayam and MLA Theepainthan had also resigned from the ruling Congress party. The repeated resignation of MLAs has created a stir in the political arena.

In the Assembly including 29 members, the Congress-led alliance has a strength of 14 (Congress 11, DMK 3 and Independent 1) and the Opposition has 14 (NR Congress 7, AIADMK 4 and BJP (nominated) 3). Currently, both the ruling party and opposition have the same number.

Health Minister Malladi Krishna Rao, who had earlier quit the Cabinet of CM V Narayanasamy, resigned as a member of the territorial Assembly yesterday. He posted his resignation letter addressed to Speaker V Sivaklounthu on his Twitter handle stating that he was resigning as an MLA with effect from February 15.