Puducherry CM V Narayanasamy on Monday claimed that he has the majority in the Assembly as he sought a confidence vote for his government. The Puducherry Assembly met for a special session for a floor test of Narayansamy’s government, which has been reduced to a minority following resignations by ruling dispensation members. 

Puducherry has a 33-member Assembly, in which 30 are elected, while three are nominated. Due to the vacancy of seven members, the strength now is 28 and the CM needs 14 votes to win the floor test. However, this is unlikely as the ruling Congress-led government has 12 MLAs and the Opposition has 14 (this includes the three nominated members, all of whom belong to the Bharatiya Janata Party).

Naranyanasamy said he had delivered for Puducherry, including effectively handling the COVID-19 pandemic, as he was apparently referring to former Lt Governor Kiran Bedi, as the two were constantly loggerheads on administrative matters. 

The union territory CM lashed out at Bedi, saying she had “conspired” against the government, including revenue generation. “Those rejected by people conspired to topple our government but we stayed firm due to our resilience,” he said.