Puducherry CM convenes meeting of Congress MLAs after Lt Guv's trust vote direction

A meeting of ruling CongressMLAs is underway here on Thursday night to decide the nextcourse of action after Lt Governor Tamilisai Soundararajandirected Chief Minister V Narayanasamy to prove his majorityin the assembly on February 22.

The MLAs are meeting at the residence of Narayanasamy,whose government is facing a crisis following the resignationsof four MLAs, including two ministers since last month.

Earlier, Narayanasamy offered prayers at a Lord Shivatemple in the heart of the town and told reporters that theMLAs would meet at his residence to decide the next course ofaction.

Soundararajan directed the summoning of the Assembly onFebruary 22 for the ''single agenda namely whether thegovernment of the incumbent Chief Minister continues to enjoythe confidence of the House.'' In the 33-member assembly with an effective strength of28, the Congress has ten members, including Speaker, while itsalliance partner DMK has three and lone independent from Maheregion also supports it. The opposition parties also have 14members.