A political crisis involving the ruling All India NR Congress-Bharatiya Janata Party coalition is brewing in the union territory with a section of saffron party MLAs expressing displeasure against the government over issues including corruption, and have knocked on the doors of the national leadership with a plea to set things right before they 'become worse'.
The NR Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam alliance on Monday emerged victorious in Puducherry Assembly polls.
The Congress government in the Union Territory will have to prove its majority in the assembly on February 22 with Lt Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan on Thursday ordering the floor test, hours after assuming charge vowing to function in accordance with the Constitution.
Ending the more than a month long suspense over cabinet formation, five ministers, including two from the Bharatiya Janata Party, were inducted in the Chief Minister N Rangasamy-led National Democratic Alliance cabinet.
Livid at Puducherry Chief Minister N Rangasamy's 'unilateral' decision to form a single-party rule despite an alliance with her party, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Thursday accused him of 'backstabbing' her party. As cracks developed in their alliance within a few days after All-India NR Congress leader Rangasamy assumed office as chief minister, Jayalalithaa charged him with "betraying" the AIADMK by his "unilateral" announcement.
All India NR Congress leader N Rangasamy was sworn in as the chief minister of Puducherry at a brief ceremony held at the Raj Nivas here on Friday and will lead a coalition government of Bharatiya Janata Party members in his cabinet.
Ousting Congress, All India NR Congress - All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam combine on Friday secured a majority winning 17 of the 26 seats for which results were declared and was leading in two in the elections to the 30-member Puducherry Assembly.
The outcome was crucial for the AINRC, which has a strength of 15 in the 30-member assembly and is in power with the support of an Independent. Puducherry Chief Minister and AINRC founder N Rangasamy had resigned one of the two seats he won, necessitating the byelection.
The April 13 Assembly polls in the Union Territory of Puducherry is shaping up to be a face-off between two fronts -- the ruling Congress-DMK combine and the oppositon All India NR Congress- All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam alliance.
All India NR Congress founder N Rangasamy, whose party made a stunning electoral debut in alliance with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam to dethrone his former party Congress in the assembly elections, is likely to be sworn in as Puducherry chief minister on Monday. However, there is no clarity as yet on whether 61-year old Rangasamy would head a coalition government or not. AINRC had won 15 seats and the AIADMK five in the 30-member assembly.
The 30 members elected to the Puducherry assembly are a mix of first-time legislators and veteran old timers making a comeback as the 12-year long Congress rule came to an end in the Union Territory. The assembly will have nine first-time members of Legislative Assembly along with a host of veterans that will reenter the House after varied periods of absence.
Over 8.1 lakh voters are exercising their franchise in the union territory of Puducherry for the 30-member assembly where ruling Congress is contesting 17 seats.
Former chief minister of Puducherry V Narayanasamy on Wednesday cautioned the voters against supporting the alliance comprising the Bharatiya Janata Party, AINRC and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in the coming assembly polls as these parties would have no qualms to merge the Union territory with Tamil Nadu.
N Rangasamy, who ended the reign of his former party Congress in a stunning electoral debut for his outfit, was sworn in as chief minister of Puducherry for a third term on Monday.
The assembly will have nine first-time MLAs along with a host of veterans that will reenter the House after varied periods of absence.
One more ruling Congress legislator A John Kumar, a close confidant of Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy, resigned his MLA post on Tuesday, in yet another jolt to the ruling Congress dispensation ahead of the assembly polls due in few months.
When Mr Rangaswamy began making threatening noises (he could have swapped the BJP's six MLAs with the DMK's six and formed the government with the outside help of the Congress and Independents), the BJP immediately named nominated MLAs.
The Congress-led government in Puducherry on Monday lost the confidence vote sought by Chief Minister V Narayanasamy, in the face of its depleted strength of 11 against the opposition's 14 following resignation of ruling dispensation MLAs, including a Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam legislator.
After an initial close fight, AINRC managed to win only eight seats, including the Indira Nagar constituency by party founder and Chief Minister N Rangasamy.
The notion that the BJP gained its increased tally by wiping out the Left parties and the Congress is completely misleading. Equally misleading is the belief that the TMC held its ground in all its existing seats. A little more than a fifth of the seats Mamata Banerjee's party had won in 2016 was lost to the BJP this time.
There will be 2,364 counting halls as compared to 1,002 halls in 2016 in 822 assemble constituencies, a more than 200 percent increase, in view of the COVID guidelines, according to the Election Commission which had drawn flak from the courts over the conduct of polls during the pandemic.
Mamata Banerjee fended off a spirited challenge by a resurgent Bharatiya Janata Party in West Bengal with a landslide victory for her Trinamool Congress on Sunday for a third consecutive term and the saffron party and the Left Democratic Front were poised to form government again in Assam and Kerala respectively while the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam stormed back to power in Tamil Nadu after a gap of 10 years.
Regional political parties received a total of Rs 91.37 crore in donations in 2016-17.
Puducherry's outgoing Lieutenant Governor Virendra Kataria on Wednesday alleged that his unceremonious ouster was plotted by the government here because of his opposition to "wrongdoings" going on in the Union Territory.
They are likely to meet Sitaram Yechury following the meeting with Gandhi.
Assembly elections are due in the summer of 2016 in five places: Assam, West Bengal in the east and Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry in the south
Scripting history, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday stormed to power in Assam bagging a government in the north east for the first time dethroning the Congress which also lost Kerala while Jayalalithaa and Mamata Banerjee retained power in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal with spectacular victories.
Modi's NDA is good enough to give a psychological boost to the once 'untouchable' BJP and Modi but if the NDA doesn't get a majority on its own, then walking the last mile will be the greatest challenge of this election for Modi, says Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com
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