It has been 50 days since the assembly election results have been declared in Puducherry. But the new cabinet is yet to be declared. Thanks to the confusion among the BJP MLAs who are engaged in a tussle among themselves in the race to become a minister.
As a partner of the NDA along with N. Rangasamy’s AINRC, the BJP, for the first time, has emerged as a significant player in Puducherry. It won six seats and got three nominated members. The BJP was also successful in roping in at least two independents thus increasing its tally in the assembly to 11. But all the excitement earned by winning and roping in MLAs seems to have exhausted in the past few weeks. The race for the cabinet portfolios within the party, the war of words among the newly elected MLAs, the ransacking of the BJP office in the Union Territory has put the saffron party in a fix in the former French enclave.
BJP managed to get its share of two cabinet berths and a speaker post after a hard bargain with AINRC president and Chief Minister Rangasamy. But the national party, which poached the Congress veterans to come to power, seems to have lost in resolving the tussle within the party. While the main contender in the race is A. Namasivayam, former minister in the then V. Narayanasamy’s cabinet and a close relative of Rangasamy, the other contender is Nellithope MLA A. JohnKumar.
“I am in Delhi now. I hope I will get a cabinet berth,” JohnKumar told THE WEEK over the phone. He said that Rangasamy had earlier promised three cabinet slots but then it was settled for two berths and a speaker plus parliament secretary.
Recently, his supporters went berserk following reports that the BJP has decided not to offer him a cabinet berth as he was booked by the Income Tax department for evading tax of more than Rs 50 crore. The incident has made the BJP's task more difficult.
While the BJP is still undecided, the cabinet formation hangs in balance and the newly elected government in the Union Territory has not got to work. Sources close to Rangasamy say that the chief minister is highly upset with BJP’s inability to finalise the two ministers. “We are waiting for the list for nearly two weeks,” said one of the AINRC MLAs.
Rangasamy is also not happy with how the BJP increased its numbers in the territorial assembly by adding three nominated MLAs. The AINRC MLAs and the political watchers in the old French colony feel that the BJP is inordinately delaying the cabinet formation. But sources in the BJP pass the blame on to Rangasamy, saying that he did not respond to the requests of the BJP earlier as he was recovering from COVID-19.
However, the delay in cabinet formation and the negotiations between the BJP and AINRC only indicate that the Union Territory is in for perennial political instability.
