Puducherry: Congress Loses Power, Chief Minister V Narayanasamy Resigns, Blames BJP

Congress government in Puducherry has collapsed after losing its majority & Chief Minister V Narayanasamy has resigned. After two exits on February 21, the government's numbers had dropped to 12 MLAs in the assembly where 14 is the majority mark. As he started the Trust Vote debate, the Chief Minister had claimed he still had a majority. Narayanasamy accused former Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi of "colluding with the opposition" to try and topple his government though his MLAs stayed united. On February 21, the ruling coalition lost two more MLAs; Congress's K Lakshminarayanan & its partner DMK's K Venkatesan resigned. With the two resignations, the Congress government's strength in the Puducherry legislative assembly fell to 12 and the rival NR Congress-led alliance has 14 MLAs. Lieutenant Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan called the Chief Minister on February 18 & ordered him to take a floor test on February 22 citing the opposition's stand that his government no longer has a majority. Congress collapse is seen to benefit the BJP ahead of elections due by May in Puducherry, along with Tamil Nadu and three more states.