Ahead of Rahul Gandhi's Pondy visit, trouble mounts for Cong govt as one more Cong MLA resigns

One more ruling Congresslegislator A John Kumar, a close confidant of Puducherry ChiefMinister V Narayanasamy, resigned his MLA post on Tuesday, inyet another jolt to the ruling Congress dispensation ahead ofthe assembly polls due in few months.

Kumar, who was elected from the Kamaraj Nagarconstituency in 2019 bypoll, is the fourth Congress lawmakerto quit the party ahead of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi'svisit to Puducherry on Wednesday to kick-start the Congresspoll campaign.

His resignation comes close on the heels of seniorparty legislator Malladi Krishna Rao, who had earlier quit asHealth minister, resigning from the post of MLA on Monday.

John Kumar called on Speaker V P Sivakolundhu at hisoffice and handed over his handwritten letter of resignation,official sources said.

The Speaker told PTI he was perusing the letter andwould take a decision soon.

He said he had received Malladi Krishna Rao'sresignation letter from the House through fax on Mondaynight.

With his resignation, the strength of the rulingCongress in the territorial assembly has come down to ten andboth the treasury and the opposition will now have 14 memberseach.

The assembly has 30 elected seats and three nominatedseats.

Already two Ministers, A Namassivayam and MalladiKrishna Rao, and a Congress member E.Theeppainjan had quit theposts of MLA during the last couple of months whileN.Dhanavelou was disqualified for alleged anti-partyactivities in July last year.

The Congress headed by V Narayanasamy has beendepending on the support of the three-member DMK and a lonelegislator from Mahe N Ramachandran.

On the opposition side, AINRC has seven members whileAIADMK has four and the Bharatiya Janata party three who arenominated members.

The Congress had won 15 assembly seats in the 2016Assembly polls.

John Kumar first arrived at the residence of the Speakerto hand over his resignation. But he was asked by the speakerto come to his office in the Assembly campus for submission ofhis letter.

Kumar then drove to the office of the Speaker andhanded over the letter, official sources said.PTI COR BNADMINISTRATOR BNADMINISTRATOR