The tussle between the ruling All India N.R. Congress (AINRC) and the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) over the Puducherry Lok Sabha seat continues, despite hectic parleys among the leaders of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
Candidates announcedBoth the parties, which claim that they are part of the NDA, have announced candidates (R. Radhakrishnan-AINRC and R.K.R Anandaraman-PMK) for the seat even before official announcement over seat allotment among allies is made.
Mr. Anandaraman, who is also the head of PMK’s Puducherry unit, declared on Sunday that he would not withdraw from the contest even if the party decided to be part of the BJP-led alliance in Tamil Nadu.
Though it was widely expected that the issue would be sorted out on Monday, no meeting between the leaders of two parties took place.
The AINRC sources maintained that it had announced candidate only after taking into confidence the BJP top leadership.
The Puducherry seat had been allotted to the AINRC in the alliance, although official announcement was yet to be made.
Hope for solutionWhile making it clear that there is no chance of giving up the seat, a leader of the AINRC told The Hindu that the party would try its best to ask the PMK to withdraw from the race and hoped that an amicable solution would be reached before Wednesday.
Similarly, a group of office-bearers of the Pradesh Congress Committee, most of them are supporters of Rajya Sabha Member P. Kannan, who submitted their resignations from respective posts protesting the re-nomination of V. Narayanasamy to the lone seat, stuck to their stand.
They alleged that Mr. Kannan was not consulted before declaring the candidature of Mr. Narayanasamy.
A reliable source told The Hindu that the party high command and the PCC leadership had established contacts with Mr. Kannan to hear his grievances.
