NEW DELHI: The political situation in Puducherry, which became unstable since mid-January, remains fluid after Congress-led coalition government of V Narayanasamy failed to prove its majority in the trust vote on Monday. Now all eyes are on the opposition camp and lieutenant governor (LG) in charge of the Union territory – Tamilisai Soundararajan.
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.
There is no word yet on the next move of either the opposition or Soundararajan, who took over the additional charge as Puducherry LG after Kiran Bedi was relieved by President Ram Nath Kovind on February 16. She is the governor of Telangana.
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.
In a probability, the opposition combine may stake claim to form government. However, this is fraught with risks for them.
Assembly elections in Puducherry are expected to be held in April-May. Narayanasamy may accuse the AINRC-AIADMK-BJP combine of manipulating to topple his elected government. He may present himself as a martyr before the voters to gain their sympathy.
As it is, Narayanasamy is crying hoarse over the role played by Kiran Bedi during her tenure. He has been accusing her of putting spanners in the developmental works of his government. Though Bedi was removed from her post at the last moment, Narayanasamy may still rake up the matter during campaigning.
If the AINRC-AIADMK-BJP combine decides to form government, Narayanasamy may go full throttle to attack them and accuse them of conspiring to topple his government.
While addressing the assembly before the vote of confidence, Narayanasamy lashed out at the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre, Kiran Bedi and the opposition parties for their repeated attempts to topple the Congress government. “The BJP-led Centre had dethroned elected governments in several states. But their plot did not work in Rajasthan. They have been trying to topple the elected government in Puducherry,” he said.
In the second scenario, the LG may recommend President’s Rule in the state as elections are just around the corner. In this case, the elections would be held under the President’s Rule and under the Centre’s watch.
This may be more helpful for the BJP as Narayanasamy would not have the advantage of being the chief minister during canvassing. He would campaign as a Congress MLA and a former CM.
In another scenario, the LG may ask Narayanasamy to continue as caretaker CM till elections are held. In this case, Narayanasamy will not have the advantage of launching as scathing an attack on the opposition camp as he would have if he remained out of power.
Earlier, after Narayanasamy failed to prove its majority in the assembly, speaker VP Sivakozhundhu declared that the government had lost its majority and adjourned the House sine die.
Narayanasamy-led coalition government fell after five Congress MLAs and a DMK MLA resigned since mid-January while a Congress MLA N Danavelu was disqualified in July last year.
The strength of the Congress, including the speaker, was reduced to nine. It had won 15 of the 30 elected seats in the 2016 assembly elections. With the support of two DMK MLAs and one independent MLA, Narayanasamy had the support of 12 legislators.
On the other hand, the opposition had the support of 14 MLAs – seven of the N Rangasamy-led All India NR Congress (AINRC), four of the AIADMK and three nominated legislators of the BJP.