Simplifying the Complexities of a 30-member Assembly

When you have a Union Territory of just 30 seats in its assembly, plus three nominated MLAs from the central government, uncertainty is pretty much a certainty. And that is what Puducherry is going through as well, with its government pulled from under its feet barely a month before assembly elections were notified. The Union Territory of Puducherry is an amalgamation of four provinces — the main province of Puducherry, close to Chennai; Karaikal, further south near Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu; Mahe on the banks of the Mayyazhi river on the Arabian Sea coast of India, which is Malayalam-speaking and is over 600 kilometres away; and Yanam along the banks of the Godavari further north to Chennai on the eastern coast, almost 800 kilometres from the town of Puducherry itself.

With MLAs as diverse as these, governance is as it is quite difficult. But three nominated MLAs added to its assembly of 30 elected members ensure that the fine balance of power can be tilted any time — as was evidenced by the V Narayansamy-led Congress government that fell barely a month ahead of elections.

“It is natural. When the number of seats is less, it may feel that way, but once we get a majority, there is no worry,” says N Rangasamy, opposition leader until two months back and leader of the All India NR Congress.

He was chief minister of Puducherry from 2011 to 2016, known as a maverick CM and leader. He lost power in 2016 but smells victory now, allied as he is with the AIADMK and the BJP for this election.

But significantly, the AINRC is only contesting in 16 of the 30 seats — so even assuming he wins all of them, he would still depend on the allies to form a government and stay in government.

A deeply religious man, he made public his final list of candidates only after the deadline to file nominations elapsed. Party functionaries brush it off as the way to deal with any infighting among aspirants for the tickets, but legend has it that it is a more superstitious belief.

Rangasamy himself is contesting from two constituencies — Yanam being one of them. Considering it is the easternmost point of Puducherry, it is deemed lucky; secondly, he contested on two seats in the 2011 election and won, so the current move may also have been triggered by that ‘precedent’ and superstition.

“One story is that he chose candidates not based on their ability or education, but entirely based on their horoscope,” says a senior journalist.

“No, no, somebody is floating that misinformation,” rebuts one candidate. “Nobody has asked me for my horoscope. I believe in horoscopes and he also believes in them. But he has never asked me for my horoscope. He chose us based on our work and our popularity in the area.”

But horoscopes or not, NR, as Rangasamy is known, has struck a gentleman’s agreement with the BJP that he would be the CM candidate if the NDA wins a majority.

The Congress, which has ruled Puducherry since 2016 but lost power when six MLAs quit between January and February, feels that NR’s tie-up with the BJP may work against him. That the voters know the machinations of the BJP in this alliance, and may vote against NR and his candidates at many places, since public sentiment is against the entire alliance.

“This is the mentality of the voters. They are wondering why NR allied with the BJP. There is a feeling he was threatened to be in alliance with the BJP. The people of Puducherry won’t allow the RSS and BJP to enter Puducherry; they did not allow in 2016, they won’t allow now. The BJP could not even counter NOTA in 2016,” says RKR Anantharaman, who used to be chief whip in the Congress government and is contesting this time too.

But the biggest criticism against the Congress has been that it was unable to hold its flock together, it was unable to get work done for its own members and ministers. It may have been this criticism perhaps that led the Congress to keep Narayanasamy out of this election — the former CM hasn’t been allowed to contest.

Anantharaman says though that it is to allow Narayanasamy to campaign in all places. Asked who is the Congress’s chief ministerial face though, he says, “Our CM face is Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi,” adding that the people of Puducherry are affectionate towards the Congress and the Nehru-Gandhi family.

Anantharaman’s erstwhile colleague, A Namassivayam, was among the more influential Congressmen to have defected to the BJP before this election. He was a minister in Narayanasamy’s cabinet; in fact, second in command. But he says it is the rot in the Congress party that made him shift (and ultimately led to a series of defections that brought the government down).

Namassivayam, one of the BJP’s top names in the Union Territory, says Narayanasamy was always the main issue in the Congress — that he quit because of the-then CM.

“He was, again and again, trying to sideline me. He’s not helping anybody, either the public or the party workers. So many times we (were) trying to develop our government… till the end we tried to. But Narayanasamy was a failure. The Congress has still not learned a lesson,” he told News18.

Asked if he, too, is a chief ministerial aspirant from the NDA alliance — as he was anyway second in command in the previous government, his only enigmatic comment is: “That is the decision of the high command. After the elections, they will decide.”

Namassivayam is, incidentally, related to NR by marriage — he is married to NR’s niece. The aim of joining the BJP is to ensure the same party rules at the Centre and the UT, he says.

This is a sentiment that many in the AINRC also believe in.

“Puducherry is totally dependent on the government of India. We cannot run this show for more than three months with our own finances. Our revenues are barely Rs 1,800 crore, but we plan for a budget of Rs 8,000 crore,” says an AINRC contestant. Though the UT does take loans, the only other resource is the government of India’s funds.

“The BJP wants to grab power, we want to grab money from the government of India. It’s a win-win situation (to ally with the BJP). We have already proven in 2011 that we have the capacity to win 15 seats on our own. But through the BJP we can serve better,” he says candidly.