Disunion territory

Infighting, resignations and a rift in the alliance with the DMK could cost the Congress the Puducherry assembly elections

- LAKSHMI SUBRAMANIAN

ON JANUARY 18, S. Jagathrakshagan told DMK cadres that he would end his life if he failed to win all 30 constituencies in the upcoming Puducherry assembly elections. The Arakkonam MP, who was recently made the party’s election in-charge in Puducherry, launched a scathing attack on the Congress government, blaming it for the lack of jobs in the Union territory. “Puducherry should have been turned into heaven by now,” he said. “Under the leadership of M.K. Stalin, the DMK will form the government.”

The rift between the alliance partners—the DMK and the Congress—was out in the open. A few days later, Public Works Department Minister A. Namassivayam and MLA E. Theepainthan left the party. They joined the BJP in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president J.P. Nadda in Delhi.

Namassivayam’s rebellion within the Congress had begun as early as 2016, when he lost the chief minister’s chair to V. Narayanasamy. Though he was a senior leader and minister, Namassivayam had been upset with Narayanasamy’s way of functioning for quite some time.

Defections are not new to the Puducherry Congress. A decade ago, the party was split when N. Rangaswamy quit to form his own N.R. Congress. However, the Congress remained powerful in the region. “There is no loss for the Congress,” Narayanasamy told THE WEEK. “Namassivayam does not have a strong following even in his own constituency.”