‘Dress Rehearsal for TN’: Politicians on Puducherry Govt Falling

Politicians on Monday reacted to V Narayanasamy’s resignation as Puducherry Chief Minister.

The Congress in Puducherry had been hit by a spate of resignations in the last one month. Image used for representation. 

(Photo: Aroop Mishra / The Quint)

Politicians have taken to Twitter to react to Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy’s resignation on Monday, 22 February over losing his party’s trust vote during the Puducherry Assembly. The Congress in Puducherry had been hit by a spate of resignations in the last one month.

Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy submitted his resignation to Lieutenant Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan on Monday minutes after his government fell in the union territory. The people of Puducherry will give the opposition a befitting reply in the upcoming elections, said the former CM.

Accusing Kiran Bedi, who was removed as the union territory's lieutenant governor last week, of colluding with the opposition and trying to topple the government, the Congress leader said, "Because of the support of my MLAs, we were able to complete almost five years of our government."

Politicians React in Favour of Former CM

Thol Thirumavalavan, MP and President of Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi party called the collapse of the Puduchery government a “dress rehearsal for what is to happen in Tamil Nadu”.

He wrote a tweet sharing his party, VCK’s statement saying,

“We are able to perceive that the Santana forces will expand the actions in Puducherry to Tamil Nadu also, and that the events that are unfolding in Puducherry are a dress rehearsal for what is about to happen in Tamil Nadu. This is a consequence of political parties giving seats to selfish opportunists who lack a commitment to ideology; in the future, they should adopt a more cautious approach.”

Thol Thirumavalavan, VCK

VCK, in the press release further alleged that, “BJP, which is incapable of winning a single seat by winning the people's mandate, is trying to gain a foothold in Puducherry by such backdoor entry. The people of Puducherry will never accept such manoeuvring. We wish to warn these selfish people and anti-democratic forces that the people of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry will teach them a lesson.”

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot blamed BJP for undermining democracy in the country and alleged that the party will be taught a lesson by electorates in the next election. He called the Puducherry government destabilising very unfortunate and added that BJP’s attempts to lure Congress is part of its modus operandi.

Politicians react to Puducherry government collapse(Photo Courtesy: Screenshot/Twitter)

President of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), MK Stalin alleged that the saffron party is carrying out backdoor deals to get a foothold in Puducherry. He tweeted, “Behind the scenes deals — the Central BJP government, which aims to assassinate democracy, has staged it in Puducherry too — this is an abuse of power!”

He praised former Chief Minister, Narayanaswamy for his courage and for protecting the democracy and added that the DMK-Congress alliance will go to the electorate.

Dinesh Gundu Rao, the in-charge of All India Congress Committee of Goa, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry tweeted, “BJP kills democracy again.” Rao alleged that the saffron party spends crores using government agencies like ED to topple an elected government.

Politicians react to Puducherry government collapse(Photo Courtesy: Screenshot/Twitter)

BJP Reacts

BJP’s Information Technology cell head Amit Malviya mocked Congress and leader, Rahul Gandhi for having a “midas touch”, and added that the presence of Congress party has only shrunk to three states in the country.

Politicians react to Puducherry government collapse(Photo Courtesy: Screenshot/Twitter)

Politicians react to Puducherry government collapse(Photo Courtesy: Screenshot/Twitter)

Piyush Goyal, the Minister of Railways; Commerce & Industry; Consumer Affairs and Food & Public Distribution dismissed Congress party for its shrinking foothold in different constituencies, and added that the future will see Congress “only exist in the books of history”.

Politicians react to Puducherry government collapse(Photo Courtesy: Screenshot/Twitter)

Health Minister, Dr Harsh Vardhan mocked Rahul Gandhi and Congress party for losing in Puducherry, stating in jest that Gandhi’s visit to the state is a “marvel that has worked again”.

Politicians react to Puducherry government collapsePhoto Courtesy: Screenshot/Twitter

Fall of Congress in Puducherry

Earlier on Monday, the Assembly Speaker announced that the Congress-DMK government lost its majority, as the alliance members staged a walkout. The developments come just months before elections are scheduled to be held in the union territory.

On Sunday, party MLA K Lakshminarayanan and DMK MLA K Venkatesan handed over their resignation letters to Puducherry Assembly Speaker VP Sivakozhundu.

After this development, the V Narayanasamy-led government was reduced to 12 MLAs. The opposition’s strength stood at 14 in the 33-member House.

Assembly elections for the union territory are scheduled to be held by May this year.

Last week, Kiran Bedi was also removed as the Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry, with the additional charge of the UT given to Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan.