Puducherry Election: BJP moving ahead in its dream of Congress-Mukt Bharat

The upcoming Puducherry Elections is a do-or-die battle for the Indian National Congress party, which is facing an existential crisis in one of its bastions - the southern part of the country. Puducherry U.T. is the last place in south India in which the Congress party stays in power. With just a few days left, the Grand Old Party is yet to buckle up to face the battle.

Puducherry: The beautiful Union Territory of Puducherry, the destination of tourists all over the world, is going for polls this April 6th, along with its neighbouring states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. It is the battle between two major fronts — The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and the National Democratic Alliance consisting of the AINRC-Congress BJP-AIADMK combo.

MLAs switching loyalties is the major trouble the Congress party is facing right now. 5 legislators jumped to the BJP just before elections, out of which at least four of them got BJP tickets. The lack of enthusiasm in the party senior leaders is another obstacle before the party.

Though the Dravidian parties are major players in Tamil Nadu, national parties, especially the Congress party is the influential party in the Union Territory. But the scenario is changing as we speak, with the alliance partner DMK, a minor player, is contesting 13 seats and Congress's seat shares has shrunk to just 14 seats.

The party didn't even fight its chance in Yanam constituency, the separated region bordering East Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh, against the former Chief Minister and NR Congress leader Rangasamy. When quipped about this, "We are looking at other options like supporting individual candidates in that seat," was the reply of Narayanasamy. "Our MLA Malladi Krishna Roa left the party at the last minute and we didn't have candidates to field there, " he added. Malladi Krishna Rao represented the Yanam constituency for more than 25 years. The leader also held key ministries in the Narayanasamy government and now lent his support to opponent Rangasamy.

Narayanasamy is not even given a chance to fight the polls. Sources in the Puducherry Congress Committee say that he was unpopular both inside the party and in public perception. The Narayasamy government is facing anti-incumbency and opposition is alleging corruption in his regime. Also, the general public felt that governance was poor. During the election campaign with party former chief Rahul Gandhi, a fisherwoman complained to Rahul that Narayanasamy didn't visit them after the cyclone. But he deliberately translated that as "During cyclone, I visited the area and gave relief to them, she's referring to that". Soon the video became viral on social networking sites and dented the party's prospects.

During the peak campaign period, with just 15 days left, Narayanasamy was sitting in his office. He was accompanied only by his assistants and office workers. But Narayasamy is confident of sweeping victory. While speaking to ETV Bharat, he dismisses opinion polls predictions. "An opinion poll is an opinion poll. Ground reality is different and the people of Puducherry don't like BJP". The former Union Minister believes that the public has sympathy for Congress party. "Kiran Bedi stalled all our development projects and hampered governance. Still we have fulfilled our promises," he asserted.

Meanwhile, the BJP party office is busy as a bee, with many volunteers from northern parts of the country toiling day and night for the victory of the party. BJP has rented choppers to fly to the Karaikal region, 130 km from the capital city, which has 5 assembly constituencies.

Politicians in Tamil Nadu repeatedly remark that BJP can't set foot in Tamil Nadu in their campaigns. But the focus of the party is different from what many politicians are observing. Senior leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Party Chief JP Nadda, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman among others are repeatedly touring the tiny U.T. BJP is hyper-focusing Puducherry instead of Tamil Nadu because the party thinks they can capture power here, opines Political analysts Joseph Victor Raja. The party which doesn't have a single elected representative in Puducherry is contesting from 9 seats.

But, people have concerns about the BJP too. The constant rise of essential commodities such as petrol and cooking gas cylinders and the Center appointed lieutenant governor interfering in day to day affairs of the government didn't go well with the people. "Many educated youth think that the BJP government in the centre has not done anything for Puducherry. They also strangled the state government. BJP toppled the government elected by the people, which is unnecessary, that too before 6 months left for the assembly elections. This may be one of the major reasons for the BJP to lose. Rangasamy may lose because of this alliance" says Pachaiyappan a long time resident of Puducherry.

The congress party is seen as a secular alternative for the BJP. With its strong base in the U.T., the most of the dalit and minoity voters is expected to remain loyal to the party. But, some analysts say the public may vote for the BJP party to have stable government as the party is in power in Delhi. Opinion polls suggest a big win for the BJP-AINRC alliance with 23-27 seats in the 30 member assembly. The state also has 3 appointed MLAs, with similar powers of the elected members.

BJP for a long time saying we will make 'Congress-mukt Bharat; or Congress-free India. The grand old party, with no dedicated full-time leader and old guard dissenters criticising the party, is now shrunk to just three states - Punjab, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. The party losing is its influence in the Hindi heartland, South India, North East and elsewhere. In the 5-State assembly polls for Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam, West Bengal, Puducherry, many opinion polls suggest the party may not return to power in Kerala, and Pinarayi Vijayan government will retain his power. This will be a historic event in the state which in the past has voted alternatively to the Congress and LDF every 5 years. In Assam, the party's prospects of winning look bleak. With the congress reduced to just minor player in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, the last hope for the party is Puducherry. If the BJP succeeds in capturing power in the Puducherry assembly elections, then the party will succeed in its Congress-mukt Bharat narrative.