LS poll outcome, a major gain for Congress

The winning of the Lok Sabha poll by the Congress in Union Territory of Puducherry has come as a great relief to the ruling Congress which wrested the seat from M Ramadoss of PMK.

The winning of the Lok Sabha poll by the Congress in Union Territory of Puducherry has come as a great relief to the ruling Congress which wrested the seat from M Ramadoss of PMK.

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Narayanasamy, elected from the Union Territory is AICC General Secretary and was fielded in the poll at a time when Congress was facing several odds within the party and also in the backdrop of ouster of senior Congress leader N Rangasamy from the post of Chief Minister last year.

Right from the day of announcement of his candidature Narayanasamy was busy in engaging support of party ranks.

What, however, was more 'embarrassing' for the Congress was that the former chief minister Rangasamy was not visible in party work and even abstained from the two sessions of Puducherry Assembly.

The fight between Narayanasamy and PMK at the poll was tough. The AIADMK led front made an issue out of the estrangement of Rangasamy with his own party since his ouster as an election issue and also felt that this factor would bring in good impact in favour of the PMK nominee M Ramadoss.

The Parliamentary poll outcome has enabled the ruling Congress to expand the Democratic Progressive alliance in which the DMK, the Congress, VCK are the constituents. The inclusion of Puducherry Munnetra Congress, a splinter group of Congress, into the DPA was a major gain for the Congress as the possibility of PMC contesting the poll was also averted to Congress' benefit.