PUDUCHERRY: Toppling an elected government using the voting power of nominated MLAs is a 'murder of democracy', said V Narayanasamy who resigned as Chief Minister on Monday. "The opposition claimed that our government has lost majority citing the nominated MLAs but we have not lost majority," the Chief Minister insisted.
The Centre had appointed three nominated MLAs from the BJP who have been rejected by the people in 2016 Assembly elections, said Narayanasamy. Among them, two have lost their deposit, he said, and using their voting power has destabilised the government. “It is not found anywhere in the country and the people of Puducherry and the country will teach them a lesson,” he said.
Narayanasamy said the BJP, NR Congress and AIADMK were indulging in efforts to topple the government for the last four-and-a-half years by inducing defections.
The Chief Minister accused the central government of conspiring to topple his government and also blamed former Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi for "colluding with the opposition".
The BJP government at the Centre was instigating defections through “inducements and investigating agencies” and has succeeded in destabilising a democratically elected government in the UT just before the polls, said Narayanasamy.
Citing toppling of governments in Arunachal Pradesh, Goa and Madhya Pradesh by the BJP, he said that the members of the ruling party are being made to resign either by luring them or by threatening them with CBI, Income Tax or Enforcement Directorate violations cases and a similar method was adopted in Puducherry. Some legislators have fallen victims to it.
In an oblique reference to ministers A. Namassivayam and Malladi Krishna Rao, he said that one was number two minister as well as chief of Pradesh Congress Committee, while the other ensured all developments in Yanam including establishing an engineering college and a unit of JIPMER. They all enjoyed power and defected in the last minute. “Is it not ‘political prostitution’? Leaders should have an ideological commitment,” he said.
The people of Puducherry are keenly watching the developments and they will vote in the next elections accordingly. While a DMK–Congress government led by the DMK will assume office in Tamil Nadu after the next elections, a Congress-DMK government led by the Congress will also assume office in the Union territory in May 2021, he added.