Puducherry, February 16: The Congress government in Puducherry, headed by Chief Minister V Narayanasamy, is facing a political crisis as it has slipped into minority after another Congress legislator resigned today. A John Kumar, who represented the Kamaraj Nagar assembly constituency, resigned from his post, citing "dissatisfaction with the Congress government".  John Kumar submitted his resignation letter to speaker V Sivakolunthu.

Following the fresh exit, Congress's strength has been reduced to 11 in the 30-member Puducherry assembly. Congress had 15 MLAs. It crossed the majority mark of 16 with support from two DMK legislators. However, the grand old party has lost four MLAs in the past one month. Two of them, A Namassivayam and E Theeppainjan, resigned on January 25, one yesterday and the fourth MLA quit today, leaving the V Narayanasamy government short of a majority.

Currently, the AIADMK has four MLAs, the AINRC has seven and there are three nominated members of the BJP. However, none of them are in a position to form the government. The development comes ahead of former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi's visit to Puducherry tomorrow to chalk out the party's election strategy.

Both Tamil Nadu and Puducherry are going to assembly polls this year. Chief Election Commissioner of India (CEC) Sunil Arora has said that the election will be held in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry simultaneously. However, the dates of the polls are yet to be announced.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 16, 2021 12:38 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).