Puducherry: Facing a floor test amid a spate of resignations, Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy on Monday said that former Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi and the Central Government colluded with the Opposition and tried to topple the government.
He was speaking in the Assembly where he has to prove the majority even as the Congress-DMK alliance's strength in the 33-member House continues to dwindle.
"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," the chief minister said.
"Former LG Kiran Bedi and Central Government colluded with the Opposition and tried to topple the government. 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," he said.
The floor test, ordered by Lt Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, is scheduled to take place at 5 pm on Monday.
In yet another jolt to Narayanasamy, two more MLAs of the ruling Congress-DMK alliance resigned on Sunday, bringing down the side's strength further to 11 against the Opposition's 14.
Speaking ahead of the floor test, Independent MLA V Ramachandran pledged his support to the Congress-DMK government.
"I am supporting the existing government. I don't want to change my opinion," he said.
Chief Whip RKR Anantharaman reiterated that the government has the required numbers to prove its majority. "We are going for the floor test today. Till now, we have the majority."
Earlier on Sunday, Congress member K Lakshminarayanan and DMK's K Venkatesan quit the assembly, with the former saying the government lacked majority in the wake of the spate of resignations, while the Dravidian party legislator hit out at the alleged lack of funds to meet people's requirements.
Lakshminarayanan and Venkatesan submitted their resignation letters separately to Assembly Speaker V P Sivakolundhu at his residence.
The fresh bout of resignations took the tally in the last few days to three and the cumulative since last month to six.
Five Congress MLAs, including ex-ministers A Namassivayam (now in BJP) and Malladi Krishna Rao, have quit since last month, while another party legislator was disqualified earlier.
The present party position in the assembly: Congress nine, including the Speaker, DMK two, All-India NR Congress seven, AIADMK four, BJP three (all nominated with voting rights), and one independent who has supported the government.
There are seven vacancies.
