By Venkatesh Raghavan
Puducherry to have President’s rule in interim period
Puducherry: Puducherry Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy today submitted his resignation to Lieutenant Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan shortly after a Motion of Confidence moved by him on the floor of the Legislative Assembly was defeated.
A dramatic walkout staged by the ruling cadres in the Puducherry territorial Assembly served as a sequel to the Congress government losing the confidence motion. Soon after the walkout, the Speaker VP Sivakolandhu pronounced that the government’s confidence motion stood defeated. The walkout was precipitated by the Chief Minister V Narayanasamy, who strongly objected to the voting rights conferred on the three nominated members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on grounds that they do not represent the people’s mandate.
The House was split and the numbers stood at 14 each, with the opposition benches drawing their strength from All-India NR Congress (7), All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) (4) and three nominated BJP members. The speaker’s ruling was given soon after the Chief Minister along with the rest of the treasury bench staged a walkout.
The crisis situation over the numbers game was the result of resignations tendered by six legislators that included five from the Congress fold and one from its coalition partner Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s fold. The issue at stake was augmented by the disqualification of a Congress member of legislature a year back. The ruling Congress-DMK coalition faced a reduction of bench strength from 33 to 26. This rendered the coalition into a minority government.
The proceedings began at 10 a.m. after the House assembled on the direction of the current Lieutenant Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan. The Chief Minister spoke at length on the hurdles created by the Centre and the reported interference at the hands of former Lt. Governor Kiran Bedi in its day-to-day functioning. On conclusion of the Chief Minister’s address, the Government whip RKR Anantharaman called for clarity over the issue of voting rights of the three nominated BJP legislators.
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After a pronounced war of words between the opposition and treasury benches, the Congress-DMK coalition legislators staged a walkout. The Chief Minister informed the media that the speaker differed from the ruling Party’s dispensation that only elected members of the legislature can exercise voting rights. “This disagreement was the cause of our staging a walkout.”
The Chief Minister also pointed out that even after the walkout was staged, the Speaker decided to give an impromptu verdict without bothering to put the confidence motion moved by the government to the floor test. The Chief Minister contended that this amounted to constitutional impropriety, and cited moral grounds for his having tendered his resignation to the new Lt. Governor. The Chief Minister also alleged that the BJP used three nominated members for the purpose of destabilising the ruling Congress stake in the Union Territory.
Narayanasamy then left for Raj Nivas and handed over his resignation to the Lt. Governor. The Raj Nivas said that Narayanasamy called on Lt. Governor Soundararajan, and submitted the letter of resignation of the Chief Minister and his Council of Ministers.
Meanwhile, BJP leaders have pre-empted any perceptions of their staking claim to form the government in Puducherry. “We will decide on it after the poll mandate that will be out for the May 2021 elections to be held in Puducherry,” a Party spokesperson said. The implications are that in the interim period, Puducherry will be subject to the President’s rule.
– with inputs from Santushti Raina
