Chennai, June 26(BPNS)
The ministers of the N Rangasamy cabinet will be swearing-in on Sunday with two BJP ministers and three All India NR Congress ministers joining the cabinet 51 days after Chief Minister N Rangasamy assumed office on May 7.
While the BJP which contested 10 seats in the assembly elections won 6 seats which was a historic victory for the saffron party as it was the first time the right-wing party was opening its account in the Union Territory. The BJP which worked systematically entered the winning podium and is sharing power as a junior partner in the AINRC led NDA government.
After the swearing-in of N Rangasamy as the Chief Minister on May 7, the Chief Minister contracted Covid -19 and was admitted to a private hospital in Chennai. While the Chief Minister was admitted to the hospital, BJP nominated three of its leaders as legislators thus taking the party tally in the 33 member house to 9. In the 2021 assembly elections, a record 6 independents won, and of this, 3 MLA’s extended their support to the BJP. This led to several theories that BJP was trying to enter into a bargaining game with AINRC for getting more ministerial berths and if possible to garner the upper hand in the cabinet.
Chief Minister N Rangasamy who was convalescing in the Chennai hospital maintained a studied silence and stopped conversing with the BJP leadership of Puducherry and even the party in charge of the Union Territory, Rajeev Chandrashekhar MP. The BJP central leadership had to do a lot of persuasion with Rangasamy to open the communication line with the BJP state leadership as well as with the party leader in charge of the UT, Rajeev Chandrashekhar. The Chief Minister reluctantly agreed and this broke the ice between the state BJP and N Rangasamy.
In the meanwhile, Tamil Nadu water resources minister and senior leader of the DMK,S Duraimurugan openly said that the BJP was trying to upset the apple cart and trying to capture power through the backdoor.
K . Jeevananadan, Journalist and Political observer and Director of Mahe Development Forum, a development initiative based out of Mahe, a province of Puducherry UT while speaking to BPNS said,” The track record of the BJP across the country is similar to what we are witnessing in Puducherry. A party that is a non-entity here fished in troubled waters and got some senior leaders of the Congress party like A Namasivayam and John Kumar to name two. Likewise, several senior local leaders jumped fence and joined the BJP. Piggy riding on the popularity of these leaders and with the political alliance of a highly popular leader like N Rangasamy, BJP could win six seats and they improved the tally to nine by nominating three of their state leaders. Again they garnered the support of 3 independent MLA’s and naturally, this will upset an incumbent Chief Minister as his junior partner has more strength than his party in the floor of the house and BJP exactly wanted this.” He however said “However BJP is still a non-entity in this part of the world and they are trying to enter through backdoor which is not good for a healthy democracy. Rangasamy will have to guard his turf properly or else BJP will work out to get a majority on its terms and conditions and try and get the post of Chief Minister through the back door.”
With the N Rangasamy cabinet going for an expansion on Sunday, the million-dollar question being raised by the political and social circles is whether the BJP will upset the combination and try and gain upper hand or whether it will satisfy on the junior partner status it has. The political line adopted by the BJP across the country is a clear indicator that the saffron party is not averse to experimentation and that it could try something up its sleeve to get the Chief Minister post for the party.
