Puducherry: Left alone by all parties including its former allies, the All India NR Congress (AINRC) has no other option but to contest the ensuing 2016 assembly polls alone in the Union territory of Puducherry.
Party founder-leader N Rangasamy has been inordinately delaying the announcement of the party's strategy for the polls, thereby irking party functionaries and cadres alike. Its former ally AIADMK, which is contesting alone, has announced candidates for all 30 constituencies.
AINRC, AIADMK and CPI contested the 2011 polls together. AINRC won 15 of the 17 seats it contested, AIADMK won five out of 10 while CPI, which contested from one constituency drew blank.
The alliance broke when AINRC formed the government with the support of an independent candidate dumping the AIADMK.
There were brief signs of revival of alliance when AIADMK bailed out Rangasamy government by extending support to the AINRC under the condition that an AIADMK candidate would be elected to Rajya Sabha. However, the revival did not materialise.
AINRC's former ally BJP has released the first list of 16 candidates for Puducherry on April 15, thereby closing the possibilities of reviving the alliance. AINRC-BJP faced the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and its candidate R Radhakrishnan emerged victorious.
The national party parted ways after its repeated attempts to strike an alliance with Congress splinter group failed. It decided to contest assembly polls alone.
Meanwhile Congress and DMK, which sealed seat sharing pact two days ago, have begun talks to identify the constituencies the parties propose to contest. Congress will contest from 21 seats while DMK nine. Congress, DMK, PMK and VCK fought the 2011 polls together.
This time the two Communist parties and VCK formed the People's Welfare Front. DMDK joined the front after its founder-leader Vijayakanth was announced as the chief ministerial candidate in Tamil Nadu.
However Puducherry DMDK unit has not taken a final call in contesting the polls together with PWF as it expressed its displeasure for allotting mere four seats. CPI is contesting from eight seats, VCK seven, CPM and MDMK four each and RSP one.
Congress nominated a six member team (All India Congress committee general secretary V Narayanasamy, Puducherry Pradesh Congress committee president A Namassivayam, former chief minister V Vaithilingam, former PPCC president A V Subramanian and former ministers E Valsaraj and M Kandasamy) wto identify constituencies.
PMK in all probability will contest alone making it a five-corned contest in Puducherry. However the fight will be among the Congress, AINRC and AIADMK
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