Puducherry Chief Minister and founder president of the All India N. R Congress (AINRC) N. Rangasamy on Wednesday, February 7, 2024, exhorted his party’s functionaries to work towards ensuring the victory of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in Puducherry.
“The Lok Sabha elections are approaching. Our workers can approach voters with confidence as our government has fulfilled the commitments given to voters. We have to ensure the victory of the candidate of the ruling coalition. The victory of the alliance candidate in the LS polls is important for the performance of the government in the coming days,” he said, while addressing workers at the party office on the occasion of the founding day of AINRC.
Thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for extending support to his administration in implementing schemes, the Chief Minister said the people of Puducherry voted for the NDA in the 2021 Assembly polls after voters got fed up with previous Congress government.
“There was administrative paralysis during the Congress government. They could not execute even existing schemes, much less implement new programmes. After coming to power, we set things right and fulfilled most of the commitments with the support of Union government. There are certain issues with the running of cooperative societies. Steps are being taken to revive the cooperative sector,” the Chief Minister said.
Stating that AINRC’s founding aim was to obtain Statehood for the Union Territory, the Chief Minister said, “The Statehood issue was taken up with the Prime Minister and I am hopeful of getting the status for Puducherry.”
He also listed the government’s achievements including a monthly financial assistance of ₹1,000 for women belonging to BPL families, fixed deposits of ₹50,000 in the name of newborn girl children, the LPG cylinder subsidy and free laptops given to government school students in classes 11 and 12.
BJP’s preparations for LS polls
The Chief Minister’s appeal to his party’s cadre comes at a time when AINRC’s alliance partner in the government, the BJP, has started preparations for the LS polls by embarking on graffiti writing and painting the party symbol on public walls as part of its campaign.
After a delegation of BJP leaders led by party in-charge for the UT, Nirmal Kumar Surana met the Chief Minister last week, Home Minister A. Namassivayam had told reporters that the candidate for the general electikons would be announced by the Chief Minister. A day after the meeting, the Home Minister was spotted with BJP workers painting the party symbol at public places.
