<span style="color: #222222;">Former  Puducherry Congress minister Namasivayam and former Congress  Puducherry MLA Theeppainthan joined the  BJP in the presence of the party's national general secretary Arun Singh in Delhi.<br />''<br />''AIR Correspondent reports that the duo joined the BJP in New Delhi, later met Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and BJP President J P Nadda. Namassivayam resigned the ministerial and MLA posts on Monday, immediately he was sacked by the Congress party from all posts including primary membership for indulging in anti-party activities.<br />''<br />''Theeppainthan also resigned MLA post on the same day and was subsequently expelled from Congress. With the exit of the two MLAs, the strength of the Congress in the Puducherry assembly has come down to 12 , its ally DMK has 3 seats and 1 independent.<br />''<br />''The Opposition NR Congress is having 7 MLAs, ADMK 4 and BJP 2 and 1 vaccant . Puducherry is headed to assembly polls before May, along with Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal and Assam. </span><br />