In a significant development on Tuesday night Puducherry Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi was removed from her post. According to the statement from Rashtrapati Bhawan, Telangana governor Tamilisai Soundararajan has been asked to discharge functions of the Lieutenant-Governor, until a new appointment is made.
Earlier in the day, the Congress-led government of V Narayanasamy in poll-bound Puducherry ran into a crisis after one more MLA left the party on Tuesday just a day ahead of former Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s visit to the Union Territory.
In the 33-member House (three nominated) the Congress had won 15 MLAs in 2016 and had the support of two DMK and one Independent legislator. A day earlier one more MLA had resigned from the party. Two more Congress MLAs had resigned in January. Reports suggest that all the four are now heading towards the BJP.
As Puducherry is going for the Assembly election in April-May and Election Commission’s announcement in this regard expected any day, nothing can be speculated about the next development. As the V Narayanasamy government is in minority even the imposition of President’s rule cannot be ruled out.
