Puducherry L-G Recommends President’s Rule After Congress Loses Power as BJP Says Won’t Stake Claim

Puducherry Lieutenant Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan has recommended President’s Rule in the union territory, days after the Congress lost power, as the BJP and its allies clarified that they would not stake claim to form the government.

BJP state unit president V Saminathan had on Monday said the NDA will form a government with BJP and its alliance partners All India NR Congress and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in May and “build a new bright future for the people of Puducherry”.

Puducherry, which is scheduled to go for polls soon, saw political upheaval on Monday when the Congress lost power after it failed to prove majority in a floor test necessitated by its MLAs exiting the party.

Tendering his resignation, Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy accused the BJP of toppling his government and said the people would teach the opposition a lesson in the coming polls.

Speaking in the assembly, the chief minister blamed former L-G Kiran Bedi for scuttling the work of the government as well as colluding with the opposition to topple the government. Bedi assumed office of Lt Governor on May 29, 2016, and had been at loggerheads with Narayanasamy on various issues.

“As our MLAs stayed united, we managed to pull off the last 5 years. The Centre has betrayed the people of Puducherry by not granting funds we requested,” Narayanasamy said. He added, “We formed the government with the support of DMK and independent MLAs. After that, we faced various elections. We have won all the by-elections. It is clear that people of Puducherry trust us.”

As the Congress government in Puducherry fell after losing majority, senior BJP ministers and leaders took a dig at Rahul Gandhi saying it was due to his “Midas touch” that the party lost power in the Union Territory soon after his visit.

Seizing on the development, several BJP leaders, state functionaries and ministers took a dig at the grand old party and Rahul Gandhi’s leadership. In a sarcastic tweet, Union minister Piyush Goyal said Rahul Gandhi’s Puducherry visit to strengthen his party has “gone well”.

“Congress loses power in Puducherry, reducing its presence to just 3 states, along with trivial existence in Maharashtra & Jharkhand. Few years from now, Congress will only exist in the books of history,” he said. Another Union minister, Harsh Vardhan, also took a dig at the former Congress chief, saying, “The marvel of Sh @RahulGandhi Ji has worked again!” “After losing out Puducherry, @INCIndia’s presence has shrunk to just 3 states – Punjab, Rajasthan & Chhattisgarh, apart from being fringe players in Jharkhand & Maharashtra. Clean sweep on the cards it seems!” he tweeted.

Reacting to the development, BJP’s IT cell chief Amit Malviya said Rahul Gandhi went to Puducherry and “true to his midas touch, Congress loses its government in the UT!”. After Congress lost its government in Puducherry, its presence has shrunk to just three states — Punjab, Rajasthan and Chattisgarh and in Jharkhand and Maharashtra, it is as good as on the margin, Malviya said.

“It’s just a matter of time before Rahul Gandhi achieves, which no other Gandhi has,” he tweeted. BJP MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar claimed that Rahul Gandhi is “effectively doing a job of dismantling” the Congress all over the country and now in Puducherry too.