“Leader, thinker, troubleshooter ...” — the Twitter bio of V. Vaithilingam, member of the Congress old guard here and candidate for the April 18 Lok Sabha elections to the lone seat in Puducherry, may be too generic for his real-life credentials.
The two-time Chief Minister and once the Leader of Opposition has been in public life for three decades. He was also the Speaker of the House, until he resigned after his candidature was finalised in March.
As the face of the Secular Progressive Alliance of the Congress, the DMK and the Left allies for the Parliamentary elections in Puducherry, Mr. Vaithilingam will look to reaffirm Puducherry’s reputation as a rarely-breached Congress bastion.
In fact, the U.T. has chosen a Congress candidate in nine of its 13 Parliamentary elections since 1967, while the PMK win in 2004 was when the Congress was an ally and did not field a candidate.
When the Congress ended all speculation and proclaimed its candidate in March, all eyes were set on the response from the principal opposition, the AINRC — the party had retained the seat while forging a broad AIADMK-BJP-PMK alliance for the Parliamentary polls.
However, AINRC supremo and former Chief Minister N. Rangasamy baffled critics and supporters alike by announcing the candidature of political greenhorn K. Narayanasamy, a doctor whose family runs a medical college here.
Defensive move?
As much as Mr. Rangasamy would rationalise his decision later as one that was representative of the youth and made with “an eye on the future”, his choice of candidate was seen as a defensive move in political circles. This, especially as in 2014 it was AINRC candidate R. Radhakrishnan who trumped the then MoS in the PMO, V. Narayanasamy. The debacle remains a rare blot on the Congress’s enviable record in Puducherry.
The Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM), founded by actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan, has fielded veteran politician and allopath M.A.S. Subramanian, as it pushes to carve out a separate political identity.
The son of DMK stalwart M.A. Shanmugam, Dr. Subramanian is a three-time MLA with almost 35 years in public life.
In this largely three-way fight for the Puducherry Lok Sabha seat, it remains to be seen how N. Tamilmaran, the candidate fielded by the T.T.V. Dhinakaran-led Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) fares.
As campaigning gathers pace for the Lok Sabha elections there is a common thread in the rhetoric of rival fronts. The differentiator is only at whose door the blame is being laid at.
The demand for Statehood, the economic doldrums the U.T. is mired in, failure to attract industry, irregular\non-payment of salaries to government staff and the whittling down of flagship welfare schemes, especially the free rice scheme for ration card-holders, are among issues dominating the campaign.
The Congress has tied its demand for Statehood to the bitter turf war with Lt. Governor Kiran Bedi, whose alleged authoritarian, undemocratic and obstructionist ways had choked implementation of various welfare measures.
“This is a fight between the forces for democracy and those who are against it,” says Mr. Vaithilingam.
The Congress-led front is also going hard at the “unholy” and “unprincipled” nature of the rival alliance. On Thursday, Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy produced AINRC posters without the image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in front of the media, alleging that these were being used for campaigning in minority-dominant areas.
Minority votes
With the predominant Vanniyar votes likely to be split among the two principal fronts, there is a lot riding on the votes from the Christian and Muslim (roughly 6% ) sections, as well as the SC (about 16%) segment.
The AINRC campaign is essentially a diatribe against the Congress government which “failed” students, farmers and the poor by not implementing any productive schemes. Laying the blame on Lt. Governor Kiran Bedi and the Centre was a blatant attempt to dodge responsibility for inept governance, said Mr. Rangasamy.
Both parties were to blame for the sorry state of affairs in the U.T., said the MNM candidate. “We have seen the pathetic performance of the Congress and the AINRC and how the U.T. has suffered on account of their poor governance. This is why their campaigns are reduced to a blame-game,” said Dr. Subramanian.The MNM would will stand for a non-corrupt administration and also press for Constitutional amendments to grant Statehood for Puducherry, Dr. Subramanian said.