Tamilisai orders floor test in Pondy

The Congress government in the Union Territory will have to prove its majority in the Assembly on February 22 with Lt Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan on Thursday ordering the floor test, hours after assuming charge vowing to function in accordance with the Constitution. 

The development came days after a ruling party MLA resigned, becoming the fourth to quit the assembly since last month, bringing down the numbers of the Congress-DMK alliance to 14 in the 33-member House with an effective strength of 28. 

Soundararajan, the Telangana Governor handed additional charge of the UT on Tuesday following the removal of Kiran Bedi, issued the direction to Chief Minister V Narayanasamy after the opposition, which also has 14 MLAs, petitioned her, saying the government has been reduced to minority and it should prove its strength on the floor of the Assembly. Polls are likely in April and the House’s term ends on June 8. The opposition has been demanding the resignation of Narayansamy since Tuesday, when his confidante John Kumar quit as MLA.