Southern Outpost Falls

The only Congress government in the South—led by V. Narayanasamy in Pondicherry—sputtered and collapsed in slow motion a few weeks before the Union territory was to elect its next assembly. The symptoms were there for everyone to witness—defection of two MLAs followed by a couple of more resignations just before Rahul Gandhi arrived on a visit, and two more resignations ahead of the trust vote in the assembly. And yet the Congress leadership failed to take any defensive action to stem the rot, allowing the Narayanasamy government to be undermined from within, with a helpful nudge from the BJP.

The Congress failed to learn from its past mistake of replacing a local strongman, N. Rangaswamy, with a lightweight in September 2008 though the former had led the party to power in 2006. Rangaswamy floated the NR Congress and captured power in 2011. Again, when E. Namassivayam managed to win in 2016 and became the MLAs’ choice for CM, the high command denied him the post and nominated Narayanasamy. After nearly five years as PWD minister, Namassivayam joined the BJP hoping to be projected as CM candidate.

“The Centre’s move to nominate three MLAs should have sent out the warning, especially after Narayana­samy was thrust by his party high command in 2016,” admits a senior Congress leader. “Narayanasamy (who had served as MoS at the PMO under Manmohan Singh) also lacked the political dexterity to step around the fusillades from Lt Governor Kiran Bedi, preferring to take them head on. While his confrontationist approach might have satisfied his party bosses in Delhi, it badly hit governance in the UT.” The continuous one-upmanship between Lt Governor and CM took a heavy toll on the administration, with officials confused about whose orders to follow. A few well-wishers offered to mediate a truce, but  Narayanasamy’s ego came in the way. Ultimately, even the high command he had sought to please failed to rescue him when the crisis finally arrived.

Even the Centre’s decision to move out Bedi proved to be a part of the BJP’s larger gameplan. The sight of handing over his resignation to a triumphant Bedi would have been fully exploited by the 70-year-old Narayansamy as the culmination of the troubles caused him by the former IPS officer at the BJP’s behest. But Home Minister Amit Shah denied him that opportunity by replacing Bedi with Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan. The new incumbent also made it a point to take her oath in Tamil, thus denying the outgoing CM the chance to claim that a Tamil had been done in by a non-Tamil.

It suits the BJP to have Pondicherry under President’s rule when it goes to election along with Tamil Nadu. The former French colony, with an electorate of less than 10 lakh voters, has stood behind the Congress all along. By stealing the Congress’s thunder, the BJP hopes to use Pondicherry as a dry run for its larger goal of striking firmer roots in Tamil Nadu.

By G.C. Shekhar in Chennai