Here’s a Timeline of How Congress Lost its Power in Puducherry
The Congress party on Monday lost its power in Puducherry. Chief Minister V Narayanasamy, who resigned from his office, blamed Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi for colluding with the Opposition, which includes BJP and All India NR Congress. This comes after the Congress-led government was asked to prove their majority in the Assembly after several minister from Puducherry cabinet government tendered their resignations.
The total strength of the legislative assembly is 33 (30 elected + 3 nominated). Before the resignations in 2021, Congress MLAs were 14 in number as former MLA N Dhanavelu was disqualified from the assembly under Anti Defection Act in 2020.
Here is the timeline of how the events unfolded that led to the collapse of the Congress-led government in Puducherry:
January 25: After Congress suspended A Namassivayam for “anti-party” activities, the former Minister for Public works tendered his resignation from the legislative assembly.
January 28: Namassivayam along with his supporter E Theeppainthan, who was also a Congress MLA, joined BJP.
February 15: After the exit of two MLAs, Malladi Krishna Rao, the Health Minister of Puducherry also resigned bringing Congress down to 11 in the Assembly.
February 16: Congress MLA A John Kumar resigned from the Puducherry Assembly. Kiran Bedi was also removed from the post of Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry.
February 17: Under the leadership of N Rangasamy, opposition leader, opposition parties lead a proposal for a floor test arguing that the Congress party has lost the majority mark in the assembly.
February 18: Tamilisai Soundarajan was sworn-in as the new Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry. She is also the Governor of Telangana. She ordered a floor test to be held on February 22.
February 21: Another setback came for the government when DMK MLA Venkatesan and Congress MLA K Lakshminarayana also resigned.
February 22: The majority mark of Congress party in the Puducherry Assembly had dropped to 12 MLAs. The government failed to prove their majority in the House.