Congress govt in Puducherry to face floor test on Feb 22
CHENNAI: The Congress government in Puducherry will face a floor test on February 22, the Union territory’s acting lieutenant governor, Tamilisai Soundararajan said in a statement on Thursday, soon after taking charge. The statement noted that the ruling and the opposition parties have a strength of 14 members each in the 33-member house. Of the 33, three members are nominated by the Union government. Five of the seats are vacant.
The announcement of a floor test comes after the Opposition, former chief minister N Rangasamy’s All India NR Congress, the BJP and the AIAMDK submitted a petition to the lieutenant governor’s office on Wednesday seeking one after the ruling Congress slipped to minority with a spate of resignations since January.
The L-G met the opposition leaders as well as chief minister V Narayanasamy separately. Narayanasamy maintained that his government has enough numbers on its side, although it wasn’t immediately clear how. Elections to the UT assembly are due shortly. With an announcement imminent, analysts said that even if the government falls, the L-G may either declare Governor’s rule or ask the current government to continue as a caretaker one, rather than swearing in another government.
On Monday, the Congress lost its majority in the 33-member assembly after one MLA resigned. Later the same night, in a sudden move, the reasons for which are still not clear, Kiran Bedi was removed as L-G. Chief minister V Narayanasamy met President Ram Nath Kovind last week, seeking that Bedi be recalled; he accused her of interfering in the state’s day-today governance.
Telangana governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, who was also former BJP chief in Tamil Nadu, was given additional charge of Puducherry.
Since January, four MLAS from the Congress have resigned; two of them have flown to Delhi and joined the BJP. “We are ready to face the floor test; the BJP is being unethical,” said AICC Incharge for Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and Goa, Dinesh Gundu Rao.
“Bedi nominated three MLAS from the BJP without our recommendation and that’s the strength they’re showing,” he said.
Three senior BJP leaders from the Union territory met Union home minister Amit Shah and party President JP Nadda in Delhi on Thursday to discuss the situation.
“I don’t know how Narayanasamy is claiming he’s got the majority when he doesn’t ,” said political analyst Maalan Narayanan, although he added that over the next few days, the Congress would try and convince at least some of the opposition MLAS to stay away from the floor test.
CHANDIGARH : The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday claimed that the party made major gains in the civic polls in Majha and Doaba regions where the party was in a weak position.
In a statement, AAP state unit president Bhagwant Mann said that though the party candidates had won a few seats, AAP’S vote share had increased significantly.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the party got around 5.5% votes in urban areas, but polled almost three times more this time, he said, calling a good sign for the party. Of the 2,302 wards of eight municipal corporations and 109 municipal councils and nagar panchayats, the party won 60, or say less than 3%, wards across the state, falling way behind the Congress, which swept the polls, and the SAD. Mann said the party’s vote share in Amloh, Amritsar, Baba Bakala, Banga, Batala, Dasuya, Fatehgarh Sahib, Khanna, Majitha, Nabha, Pathankot, Patti, Payal, Rajpura, Samrala and Sujanpur had gone up as compared to 2019 Lok Sabha polls.