Narayanasamy quits before vote, Puducherry set for President’s Rule

Puducherry chief minister V Narayanasamy submitted his resignation to the newly appointed lieutenant governor (LG) Tamilisai Soundararajan on Monday ahead of the trust vote, leading to the collapse of the only Congressled state in southern India.

The Congress-led government in the Union Territory had suffered two more exits a day earlier, leading to a decline in the number of its MLAs to 12 in the assembly where 14 is the majority mark. Soon after being sworn in on Thursday last week, Soundararajan had directed the government to prove its majority.

The BJP is expected to gain the most from the fall of the Congressled government as elections are due in May in Puducherry, along with Tamil Nadu and around the same time as in three more states.


On Monday, Narayanasamy moved a motion of confidence and spoke extensively about the obstacles that the government faced from the Centre and from former LG Kiran Bedi over the years.

He accused Bedi of “colluding with the opposition” to try to topple his government though his MLAs stayed united. He went on to add that she denied the government of central benefits. He accused the BJP of trying to topple his government by launching the “Operation Kamala”, the name given by the BJP’s critics to what they call the plan of destabilising governments by engineering defections in the ruling parties.

During the floor test, Narayanasamy and other ruling party members staged a walkout. Soon after their exit, Speaker VP Sivakolandhu informed the House that the confidence motion moved by the CM stood defeated, and Narayanasamy left for Raj Nivas and handed over his resignation to Sosundararajan.

Soundararajan may ask the NR Congress to form the government or there can be a call for imposition of President’s rule till the assembly election.