Congress Loses Power In Puducherry, CM Resigns

The Congress government in Puducherry collapsed on Monday after losing its majority and Chief Minister V Narayanasamy submitted his resignation to Lieutenant Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan.

After two exits on Sunday, the government's numbers had dropped to 12 MLAs in the house where the majority mark is 14.

Ahead of elections due by May in Puducherry, along with Tamil Nadu and three more states the Congress collapse is seen to be benefit for the BJP.

After a series of resignations from the Congress party,Congress's K Lakshminarayanan and its partner DMK's K Venkatesan resigned. Four-time Congress MLA Lakshminarayanan said he was upset at not getting "recognition" in the party. He said he wasn't made a minister, Speaker or party chief and that the NR Congress and BJP had approached him.

Lieutenant Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan called the Chief Minister on Thursday and ordered him to take a floor test on Monday citing the opposition's stand that his government no longer has a majority. She called for the vote a day after taking charge following Kiran Bedi's sudden removal as Lieutenant Governor on Tuesday.

After losing the trust vote, Narayanasamy tendered his resignation along with those of his cabinet colleagues, congress and alliance partner DMK MLAs and the lone independent legislator supporting his government. He accused the BJP of trying to topple his government adopting the "Operation Kamala" – the name given by the BJP's critics to what they call the plan of destabilizing governments by engineering defections in the ruling parties.

The opposition camp has 14 MLAs in the assembly which has the effective strength of 26 legislators. It comprises seven of the N Rangasamy-led All India NR Congress (AINRC), four of the AIADMK and three nominated legislators of the BJP.