The All India N.R. Congress has sounded the poll bugle by holding a meeting of its important functionaries on Friday to chalk out a strategy.
The principal Opposition party in the U.T. is part of an lliance that includes the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Pattali Makkal Katchi and the Bharatiya Janata Party and has been allotted the lone Lok Sabha seat from the Union Territory.
A source in the AINRC told The Hindu that the party in all probability would field K. Narayanasamy, a doctor and son of a former MLA Kesavan whose family owns a private medical college here. Although the party has not ruled out renominating its MP R. Radhakrishnan, sources said there was only a remote chance of him being given the ticket. The party wanted to field a candidate from the powerful Vanniyar community, the source added.
Congress move
Party insiders said they were watching the candidate selection process in the rival camp following reports of Congress high command expressing its keenness to field Minister for Public Works and chief of Pradesh Congress Committee A. Namassivayam. “If he is going to be fielded, it will alter the equation as Namassivayam also belongs to the dominant caste. So, we will wait for some more days to make the announcement,” the party functionary said. Shortly after holding a meeting with party workers, former Chief Minister and AINRC chief N. Rangasamy told reporters that the Congress had “failed as it devoted more time to fight the Lt. Governor.” The government was not able to implement any promise made during the Assembly elections, he said.
Terming the day-and-night dharna by Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy and his colleagues as a “drama,” the AINRC chief said the Chief Minister, while occupying a key position at the Centre, had opposed the demand for Statehood.
Mr. Narayanasamy could have got the Union Territory Statehood when he was the Union Minister, the former Chief Minister said. “Obtaining Statehood is one of our founding principles. The Chief Minister opposed the move when our government placed the demand before the Centre,” he added.