Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy, whose government was teetering on the brink after three MLAs quit in the past week, failed a trust vote in the Assembly on Monday, reports ANI. Thus, the Congress-led Puducherry government has fallen, barely two months before the scheduled Assembly election. The CM has submitted his resignation to the Lieutenant Governor.

The Puducherry government had been reduced to a minority after three MLAs — two from the Congress and one from ally DMK — resigned. The Congress government’s strength in the Puducherry legislative assembly came down to 12 out of a total of 28. The rival NR Congress-led alliance has 14 MLAs now.

Minutes after the Puducherry Assembly met for a special one-day session, CM V Narayanasamy moved the motion seeking the confidence vote. He and his ruling side MLAs later walked out before the motion was put for voting. Later, Speaker VP Sivakolundhu announced that the motion stood defeated.

Just before the trust vote, the Chief Minister in his Assembly speech said, “Despite hurdles, we have worked day and night for the people. Kiran Bedi (who was former Puducherry Lieutenant Governor) colluded with the opposition and tried to topple our government. Because of the support of my MLAs, we were able to complete almost 5 years of our government,” Narayanasamy said. 

In the past week of fast-paced developments, Lt Governor Kiran Bedi was replaced by Tamilisai Soundararajan, who soon after taking charge asked V Narayanasamy to prove his government’s majority in the Assembly.

This is the second Congress government to fall in a year. The Kamal Nath-led Madhya Pradesh government collapsed in March 2020 after Jyotiraditya Scindia, along with 22 MLAs, joined the BJP.

The Ashok Gehlot-led Rajasthan government also plunged into crisis when then deputy CM Sachin Pilot rebelled against the government. But, his toppling bid did not succeed and he returned to the party.