The All India NR Congress (AINRC) has sealed the alliance deal with All India Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Puducherry for the upcoming Assembly elections. AINRC Chief N Rangasamy will lead the alliance as the chief ministerial candidate of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
AINRC will contest in 16 seats and the AIADMK-BJP alliance will contest in 14 constituencies.
On Monday, 9 March sources told The Quint that alliance talks had hit a deadlock after five rounds of negotiations.
Fissures had developed between the AINRC and the BJP because the former wanted the latter to accept Rangasamy as the CM candidate. This would have benefited the United Progressive Alliance.
A Times Now-CVoter opinion poll has projected that the NDA is likely to form the government in Puducherry by grabbing 18 of the 30 seats. In the 2016 Assembly elections, it had won 12 seats.
Meanwhile, the Congress-led UPA is projected to win around 12 seats.
The poll showed that the respondents voted for N Rangasamy as the most favoured chief ministerial candidate, followed by the former Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy.
President’s rule was imposed in the union territory since February 2021. After a spate of resignations from the Congress, a floor test was conducted for the ruling party to prove its majority and the party was unable to. The BJP-AINRC-AIADMK alliance had the numbers but decided to not stake claim.
Meanwhile, in the rival Congress-DMK camp, the second round of seat-sharing talks is underway and the Congress is expected to finalise the deal by Wednesday, 10 March.
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