A cliffhanger on the cards in Puducherry as Congress veteran takes on BJP heavyweight

More than being a constituency where national rivals the BJP and Congress are engaged in a direct fight, the battle for the lone Parliamentary seat in Puducherry has all the makings of a political cliffhanger.

More than being a constituency where national rivals the BJP and Congress are engaged in a direct fight, the battle for the lone Parliamentary seat in Puducherry on April 19 has all the makings of a political cliffhanger. V. Vaithilingam, Congress veteran, sitting MP and two-time Chief Minister, is taking on former Congressman-turned-bete noire, and now an ascendant BJP leader in Home Minister A. Namassivayam in a tight contest.

Fate, it would appear, has convened another face-off between the two leaders who were once in the race to the post of Chief Minister following the Congress-Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) alliance’s win in the 2016 Assembly election - the Congress high command eventually naming former Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office V. Narayanasamy to the coveted chair.

It is not hard to see why Mr. Namassivayam’s candidature has made it a prestige fight for the Congress. As Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief, Mr. Namassivayam played a key role in the Congress-DMK combine’s victory in the 2016 Assembly election, and had made no secret of his frustrations during his time as PWD Minister in the Narayanasamy Cabinet.

Matters blew up a few months before the next Assembly election in January 2021, when Mr. Namassivayam quit as Minister and resigned from the MLA post to walk into the waiting arms of the BJP. This would be the first of several body blows to the Congress as high-profile exits followed and precipitated the collapse of the Narayanasamy government in a trust motion in the Assembly.

After the All India N.R. Congress-BJP government came to power in the 2021 Assembly election, Mr. Namassivayam was allocated the Home portfolio - usually held by the Chief Minister. He was shortly thereafter inducted into the BJP’s national executive, an 80-member decision-making body.

In 2024, as important as it is for the Congress-led INDIA bloc and the BJP-led NDA to put on a strong performance, both fronts must also be acutely aware that the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) – now delinked from the NDA alliance – presents a third force capable of tilting the scales to an extent, disproportionate to its vote share or lack of legislative representation, especially if the race gets tight.

In contrast to the INDIA and NDA fronts which opted for political stature and experience in determining candidature, the AIADMK has pitched a new face and fielded its youth wing secretary G. Thamizhvendhan, who hails from the fisher community.