In an escalation of the factional feud in the Puducherry Congress, supporters of the incumbent leadership and dissidents went head to head outside the party office where Dinesh Gundu Rao, AICC-in charge of the Union Territory, had convened a meeting of the political affairs committee on Sunday.
The dissident faction that has coalesced around former Minister M. Kandasamy has been demanding a leadership change to fix accountability for the party’s drubbing in the 2021 Assembly election.
As Mr. Rao approached the party office, a group of partymen accosted him about the status of their demand for a leadership change that had been communicated to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.
The AICC leader went in for the consultation after agreeing to meet the group later.
As word went around, supporters of the incumbent leadership, which includes former Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy, gathered in front of the party office, triggering heated arguments between the two sides.
Mr. Rao, who emerged from the meeting, was taciturn on the demand for a new leadership. He would only say that the high command was seized of the matter. He was non-committal on the dissidents’ demand for a meeting with Mr. Rahul Gandhi and left in a huff as a group threatened to lay siege to his car.
Later, Puducherry Congress president A. V. Subramanian announced the temporary suspension of five workers from the party membership for unruly behaviour, disrupting the meeting convened by Mr. Rao and damaging his car. A show-cause notice has been issued to the suspended members, asking them why they should not be removed from the party.
