The All India N.R. Congress (AINRC), led by former Chief Minister of Puducherry N. Rangasamy, on Thursday formally returned to the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) fold, after a gap of over seven years.
As part of a pact signed by Mr. Rangasamy along with Deputy Chief Minister and coordinator of the AIADMK O. Panneerselvam and Chief Minister and co-coordinator of the ruling party Edappadi K. Palaniswami at the AIADMK party headquarters here, the Puducherry parliamentary constituency was assigned to the AINRC.
During the 2011 Assembly polls in Puducherry, the two parties had an electoral understanding. At that time, the AINRC won 15 of the 17 seats it contested, while the AIADMK bagged five of the 10 seats where it fielded its nominees. After the election results were declared, Mr. Rangasamy went on to form a government on his own, prompting the then general secretary of the AIADMK and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa to accuse him him of having betrayed her party.
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During the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the AINRC was part of the front that included the BJP and its nominee, R. Radhakrishnan, won the constituency, defeating his nearest rival and Congress nominee, V. Narayanasamy, who is now the Chief Minister, by a margin of over 60,000 votes.