With Narayanaswamy not contesting assembly polls how will Puducherry Congress fare?

The situation in Puducherry Congress has taken a twist after reports that the Congress has denied a ticket for the assembly elections to former Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanaswamy and instead given him the responsibility of campaign and election management.

This comes after the Congress-led government in the Union Territory collapsed before completing its five-year term under Chief Minister V Narayansamy.

Narayanasamy had resigned on February 22 ahead of a floor test in the 33-member House (including three nominated) following the resignations of five Congress and one Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) legislators.

On February 23, President Ram Nath Kovind accepted the resignation of Narayanasamy and his council of ministers.

Ever since Congress released its list of candidates for the assembly elections on March 16 which did not carry the name of Narayanaswamy, there have been widespread speculations that the party denied an election ticket to him.

Following the release of the candidate list, Dinesh Gundu Rao, All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-incharge of Puducherry, had also confirmed that Narayanaswamy will not be contesting the elections.

"Former Chief Minister V Narayanasamy will not contest the 2021 assembly elections in Puducherry. He will look after the campaign and election management," Rao had told ANI.

However, on March 20, Narayanswamy declined the reports claiming that the Congress party denied him a ticket for the upcoming assembly polls in the Union Territory.

Speculations are rife that Narayanasamy fell out of favour with the party high command when he wrongly translated a fisherwoman's complaint to Rahul Gandhi when the latter had toured Puducherry.

While Rahul Gandhi was talking to the fisherfolk at Nellithope during his Puducherry visit, a middle-aged woman complained that very little has changed for them over the years. "No one comes to our support. Even he (pointing to Narayanaswamy) did not visit us after the cyclone," she complained in Tamil.

Narayanaswamy who was acting as interpreter wrongly translated her complaint into praise and conveyed it to Rahul Gandhi.

"During that time, during Nivar cyclone, I came and visited the area and gave relief to them. That is what she is saying," said the former Chief Minister wrongly translating the woman's Tamil statement into English.

It is pertinent to note that even in 2016, Narayanasamy was not the choice of MLAs since he had not contested the Assembly elections. He had become the Chief Minister without contesting the polls and entered the Assembly by winning a by-election subsequently.

In the 2016 assembly polls, Congress had won 15 seats, All India NR Congress eight seats, AIADMK got four seats, DMK walked away with two MLAs. BJP could not win any seats.

While Congress is fighting the polls in an alliance with DMK, the opposition tie-up consists of All India NR Congress, BJP, and AIADMK.

Polling for 30 assembly seats in Puducherry will be held on April 6. The counting of votes will take place on May 2.

Of the 30 assembly seats, five are reserved for the Scheduled Caste candidates. As many as 10,02,589 electors will choose the candidates for the 15 legislative Assembly of Puducherry.

(ANI)

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