Coalition with 'corrupt' AINRC cost BJP Puducherry seat: Congress leader Narayanasamy
“Corruption in the administration has contributed much to the BJP biting the dust in the polls. The government should quit office as people have rejected the BJP and the coalition here,” he added.
PUDUCHERRY: The opposition has attributed the defeat of the BJP in the Union Territory to “corrupt and anti-people administration” of the AINRC-BJP coalition.
Congress candidate V Vaithilingam retained the lone seat in the Union Territory by winning with a margin of 1,36,616 votes. He got 4,26,005 votes while his BJP rival and Puducherry Home Minister A Namassivayam polled 2,89,489 votes. There were 26 contestants in the fray.
Speaking to reporters immediately after the declaration of the poll result late on Tuesday night, senior Congress leader and former CM V Narayanasamy said, “Puducherry people were fed up with the deficient performance of the Rangasamy-led AINRC-BJP coalition.”
“Corruption in the administration has contributed much to the BJP biting the dust in the polls. The government should quit office as people have rejected the BJP and the coalition here,” he added.
Will the defeat of the BJP give a jolt to the stability of the Rangasamy-led government here is the question that is being debated here.
Closure of fair price shops, opening of resto bars and the Central government’s announcement to privatise the distribution of electricity in Puducherry were also some of the reasons for the defeat of the saffron party, said a Congress leader. The Congress has been campaigning against privatisation of the power sector.
A section of merchants said that GST had been a major irritant for the business community and also the consumers. The problem of unemployment affecting the youth and also lack of steps to generate jobs have been assessed to be the cause of the defeat of the BJP, a coalition partner of AINRC in the polls.