Congress willing to boycott Puducherry polls over Statehood issue if CM takes first step: PPCC chief
The Hindu
Congress may boycott Puducherry polls over Statehood demand if CM formally announces election abstention, says PPCC chief.
Expressing dismay over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s silence on the demand for Statehood raised by Chief Minister and AINRC founder N. Rangasamy at Sunday’s (March 1) event in Lawspet, the chief of Puducherry Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) and MP V. Vaithilingam on Monday (March 2) said that the Congress was ready to boycott the coming Assembly polls if the Chief Minister made a formal announcement of his party’s decision to abstain from the 2026 elections in Union Territory over the issue of Statehood.
Addressing a press conference on Monday, the PPCC chief said it was regrettable that the Prime Minister, who spoke at the event, did not make any reference to Mr. Rangasamy’s request for Statehood. The Prime Minister did not even acknowledge the request, he added.
“During a recent Assembly session, the Chief Minister had made a suggestion to political parties to boycott the polls until the demand for Statehood was conceded. The Prime Minister has not responded to the demand. If the Chief Minister still believes in the statement he made in the Assembly, let him make an announcement on boycotting the elections, and we will immediately make our stand to abstain from the polls,” the MP said.
The Prime Minister’s visit to Puducherry, Mr. Vaithilingam said, was disappointing as there were no announcements regarding the economic development of Puducherry. The Prime Minister has brought in a bad culture of using official events to make political statements by levelling “baseless” charges against the previous Congress government in the UT, the Congress chief alleged.
On the talks within the INDIA bloc for the Assembly elections in the UT, Mr. Vaithilingam said the PPCC was waiting for the high command to finalise the party’s seat-sharing arrangement with the DMK in Tamil Nadu. However, he added that the Congress workers are united in their stand of taking up the leadership role of the alliance in Puducherry.
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