Congress govt in Puducherry slips into minority

In Puduchery, V Narayanasamy-led Congress government is now in the minority as its strength has come down to 10 with the resignation of MLA John Kumar on Tuesday. Of the 30 elected MLAs in the assembly, Congress had 15 members and, along with the DMK's three and one independent member, was just past the majority mark of 16.After the resignations, the government and the opposition both are at 14. The Congress has 10 members, leaving the V Narayanasamy government one short of the majority mark, which is now 15 with the assembly strength dropping to 28.On Monday, Malladi Krishna Rao quit.

The exits are embarrassing for the Congress just before Rahul Gandhi's visit to Puducherry on Wednesday to prep election strategy. The Congress has traditionally enjoyed a strong grip on Puducherry but this time round, it has faced rumblings over Chief Minister V Narayanasamy, seen to have been para-dropped after the 2016 election. Leaders that have walked out of the party had been resentful of his style of functioning and his endless feud with Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi. Two ministers, A Namassivayam and E Theepaindan, earlier resigned in January and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Another Congress lawmaker, N Dhanavelu, was disqualified in July for anti-party activities. In the 2016 polls,