Induction of protem Speaker at Raj Nivas tomorrow

Puducherry Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi will induct ruling Congress legislator V.P. Sivakolundhu as protem Speaker at Raj Nivas here on Wednesday.

Secretary to Assembly S.Mohandas told PTI that Sivakolundhu will be inducted as protem Speaker at 11 a.m.

The date of the first session of the new Assembly for swearing-in of newly elected legislators would be decided shortly, he said.

Sivakolundhu, a first time legislator, was elected from Lawspet Constituency in the May 16 polls.

Ruling Congress has 15 members in the 30-member Assembly while its poll ally, the DMK, has two members.

Vote of confidence

Meanwhile AIADMK in Puducherry has asked the V Narayanasamy-led Congress Ministry to seek vote of confidence on the floor of the assembly while claiming that factionalism within that party had come to the fore ever since the list of new ministers was released.

A Congress legislator had “boycotted the swearing-in ceremony on Monday, which stands testimony to the fact that intraparty feud had cropped up in the Congress,” AIADMK legislative wing leader A Anbazhagan told reporters here without mentioning the legislator’s name.

He urged the Lt. Governor to intervene and convene a session of the House and direct Chief Minister Narayanasamy to prove majority on the floor of the House.

AIADMK, on its part, would table a motion to urge the government to prove its majority either on the opening day of the session of the House or on subsequent days.

Anbalagan also expressed shock over the delay in induction of newly elected members.

“We are not able to contact officials as elected legislators pending induction, as members of the House to seek redressal of public grievances,” he said.

AIADMK has four members in the opposition block.

The AIADMK leader asked the Congress government to deliver on its promises in the party poll manifesto without ’hoodwinking’ the people