A cliffhanger on the cards in Puducherry as Congress veteran takes on BJP heavyweight
More than being a constituency where national rivals BJP and Congress are engaged in a direct fight, the battle for the lone Lok Sabha seat in Puducherry on April 19 has all the makings of a political cliffhanger. V. Vaithilingam, Congress veteran, sitting MP and twotime Chief Minister, is taking on former Congressmanturnedbete noire, and now an ascendant BJP leader, Home Minister A. Namassivayam, in a tight contest.
Fate, it would appear, has convened another faceoff between the two leaders who were once in the race to the post of Chief Minister following the CongressDravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) alliance’s win in the 2016 Assembly election — the Congress high command eventually naming former Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office V. Narayanasamy to the coveted chair.
It is not hard to see why Mr. Namassivayam’s candidature has made it a prestige fight for the Congress. As Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief, Mr. Namassivayam played a key role in the CongressDMK combine’s victory in the 2016 Assembly election, and had made no secret of his frustrations during his time as Minister in the Narayanasamy Cabinet.
Matters blew up a few months before the next Assembly election in January 2021, when Mr. Namassivayam quit as Minister and resigned from the MLA post to join the BJP. This would be the first of several body blows to the Congress as highprofile exits followed and precipitated the collapse of the Narayanasamy government in a Trust Motion in the Assembly.
After the All India N.R. CongressBJP government came to power in the 2021 Assembly election, Mr. Namassivayam was allocated the Home portfolio — usually held by the Chief Minister. He was also inducted into the BJP’s national executive, an 80member decisionmaking body.
Third front issues
In 2024, as important as it is for the Congressled INDIA bloc and the BJPled NDA to put on a strong performance, both fronts must also be acutely aware that the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) — now delinked from the NDA — presents a third force capable of tilting the scales to an extent, disproportionate to its vote share or lack of legislative representation, especially if the race gets tight.
In contrast to the INDIA and the NDA fronts which opted for political stature and experience in determining candidature, the AIADMK has pitched a new face and fielded its youth wing secretary G. Thamizhvendhan, who hails from the fisher community.
The Naam Tamilar Katchi’s R. Menaga, a Siddha practitioner, is among the three women in a field of 26 candidates who are seeking a mandate from an electorate of 10,23,699 lakh voters.
The Congress, notwithstanding remarkable electoral statistics from the past — direct wins in 10 out of 14 previous Lok Sabha elections and two wins by allies the AIADMK (1977) and the PMK (2004) — has its work cut out as it tries to regain prominence after the double blow in 2021. Then, even before the Congress could fully get over the fall of the Narayanasamy government in February, further ignominy ensued in the Assembly election when the party suffered its worstever electoral drubbing in a place considered a bastion.
And though Mr. Vaithilingam won in 2019 by a record margin of about 1.97 lakh votes over his AINRC rival and political greenhorn K. Narayanasamy, a victory that stood out amid moralehurting losses for the Congress at the national level, he is locking horns with a tougher opponent in Mr. Namassivayam, who wields considerable clout with the Vanniyar community.
Apart from banking on a Dalitminority vote consolidation with support of allies — the DMK, Left and the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) — the Congress is also hoping the solo run of the AIADMK, unlike in 2019 when it was in the NDA fold, would offset any increased consolidation of Vanniyar votes as two influential leaders from the community, Mr. Namassivayam and Chief Minister N. Rangaswamy, now work in tandem.
For a Congress grappling with existential challenges, a win goes far beyond sweet revenge as it could mark the beginning of a comeback. For the BJP, which now has six elected MLAs, three nominated MLAs, and a Rajya Sabha MP from the Union Territory, adding a Lok Sabha seat to its expanding kitty will mark another step towards cultivating a sphere of political sway in the region.