Puducherry Political Crisis: Ruling Coalition MLAs Knock At Delhi's Doors Against AINRC-BJP Government

PUDUCHERRY: A political crisis involving the ruling AINRC-BJP coalition is brewing in the union territory with a section of saffron party MLAs expressing displeasure against the government over issues including corruption, and have knocked on the doors of the national leadership with a plea to set things right before they 'become worse.' Among others, they want a reshuffle of the cabinet.

Fissures within the local BJP unit also seem to have come to the fore with calls being made for replacing the incumbent UT head over the party nominee's loss in the just concluded Lok Sabha elections. BJP candidate, Puducherry Home Minister A Namassivayam lost to Congress' Ve Vaithilingam by a margin of over 1.36 lakh votes in the April 19 polls and murmurs are being heard in the saffron camp that the three-year old N Rangasamy-led government's 'deficient performance' also contributed to his defeat.

A delegation of seven legislators belonging to the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) and also a couple of nominated legislators and independents has sought the intervention of the BJP high command "to set right the shortcomings in the working of the coalition ministry in Puducherry", a BJP source said on Thursday.

BJP MLAs P M L Kalyanasundaram, A John Kumar and his son Richard, nominated legislator K Venkatesan and Independents M Shivashankaran, P Angalane and Gollapalli Srinivas Ashok, all supporting the government, held a meeting with BJP national president J P Nadda in Delhi on Wednesday and sought his intervention to "set right the party and the administration", the source added.

The delegation has also met Lt Governor C P Radhakrishan and raised certain issues, including the government not meeting the needs and requirements of the constituencies held by the BJP and legislators supporting it. The MLAs also complained about "rampant corruption." At the national capital, the MLAs also met Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, who was the party observer here in the recent past and explained to him the apparent reasons for the failure of the BJP in the parliamentary polls, the source said.

Chief Minister Rangasamy remains tight-lipped even as legislators have come out against his government. The AINRC has ten legislators on its side in the territorial Assembly while its ally, the BJP has six members. The are six Independents and three nominated legislators in the 30-member House. Besides, there are three nominated members.

The opposition comprising DMK and Congress together have a strength of eight members. The current development is also seen as having exposed the internal differences in the BJP. There was also a demand from a section of the BJP that the high command should replace the president of the State unit of the party S Selvaganapathy for poor electoral show. Former Puducherry BJP president V Saminathan has openly demanded for removing Selvaganapathy.