After chief minister V Narayanasamy submitted his and his cabinet colleagues’ resignation letters in the wake of the ruling Congress losing its majority in the assembly, the BJP Puducherry unit said on Monday that the party would not stake a claim to form a government in the Union territory at this stage(but after the elections).

Politicians have taken to Twitter to react to Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy’s resignation on Monday, February 22 over losing his party’s trust vote in the Puducherry Assembly. The Congress in Puducherry had been hit by a spate of resignations in the last one month. Accusing Kiran Bedi, who was removed as the union territory’s lieutenant governor last week, of colluding with the opposition and trying to topple the government, the Congress leader said, “Because of the support of my MLAs, we were able to complete almost five years of our government.”

On the other hand, in a statement, BJP-Puducherry president V Saminathan said that the NDA formed of the BJP, All India NR Congress & AIADMK would form the government with the blessings of the people after the upcoming elections.  Saminathan said that Puducherry needs a new era, new government, new culture of public service and a new vision and leadership.

Thol Thirumavalavan, MP and President of Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi party called the collapse of the Puduchery government a “dress rehearsal for what is to happen in Tamil Nadu”.

VCK, in the press release further alleged that, “BJP, which is incapable of winning a single seat by winning the people’s mandate, is trying to gain a foothold in Puducherry by such backdoor entry. The people of Puducherry will never accept such manoeuvring. We wish to warn these selfish people and anti-democratic forces that the people of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry will teach them a lesson.”

Also Read: Political crisis in Puducherry: Congress government loses majority-Kiran Bedi removed as LG

Narayanasamy on Monday charged central government with “murdering democracy” by removing a democratically-formed government at the fag-end of its tenure. He also accused the Union government of destabilizing and toppling an elected government through “engineering defections using investigative agencies” and by “inducements”.

Moving the Motion of Confidence in the Legislative Assembly, the Chief Minister said that the Centre had been trying to destabilize his government for a long time like “they did” in Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Madhya Pradesh and Goa but the Congress-DMK combine was able to thwart the attempts as recently as last week.

Squarely blaming the BJP-led NDA government for toppling his government, he said “Just because they have power they think they can do anything in the country. Atrocities against Dalits and minorities continue in the country. Don’t the minorities have the right to live in the country? The Opposition parties here will be also judged by the people for supporting the Centre’s move.”

He also said, “What was the necessity to remove a democratically-elected government just around ten days before the announcement for the Assembly elections? The Centre uses Income Tax [Department], Central Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement Directorate to threaten Opposition leaders [in order] to form their government. In our camp, we had some timid legislators (referring to those resigned) the BJP was successful in weaning away. The people of the Union Territory are watching the developments.”

“We will face the electorate and explain to the people how best we served despite so much interference and obstruction,” he further added. Mr. Narayansamy reminded the Opposition about the Congress-DMK candidates’ victories in bypolls and Lok Sabha elections in 2019.

Mr. Narayansamy castigated the centre stating that the PM often spoke about the need for cooperative federalism, but his government functioned contrary to the concept. No consultation was done with the elected government before appointing nominated legislators, the Chief Secretary and Director General of Police, the Congress leader further said.

“The schemes and decisions proposed by the Cabinet were blocked or referred to the Centre by the former Lt Governor Kiran Bedi”, he said adding, “Using Ms Bedi, the Centre took away our powers and did not allow us to function.”