PONDICHERRY: A. Elumalai, an incumbent of the Rangasamy-headed Congress Ministry of Pondicherry, has decided to seek re-election from the Oussudu (reserved) constituency in the Union Territory as an Independent as the Congress had allotted the constituency to the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.

Shock and surprise

He told The Hindu here on Sunday that when there was a definite indication that the constituency would be allotted to the Congress so that he would be seeking re-election for the third time in succession, the party had earmarked the constituency to the DMK. This was a shock, surprise and an unbelievable development not only for the cadres of the Congress but also for the people at large, he said.

Pocket-borough

Mr. Elumalai said the Oussudu constituency had been a pocket-borough of Congress. It was only in 1980 that there was a stray incident of the DMK annexing the seat. He said he had nurtured the constituency ever since he was elected in a bypoll in 1998 (caused by the death of then legislator Nagarathinam).

Nobody could fault him in taking care of the needs and requirements of the people in the remote and rural-based constituency. He suspected that a section of party functionaries had hatched a conspiracy against him and hence allotted the constituency itself to the DMK. This had irked him, his volunteers and also people at large.

To pose challenge

Mr. Elumalai said as soon as the information about the constituency being allotted to the DMK was available, a large number of volunteers kept contacting him and persuading him to fight the poll as an Independent. He said he had conceded their representation and would pose a challenge to the DPA at the poll.

He said he would quit the post of Minister and of the post of MLA in a couple of days.

Mr. Elumalai won the byelection in 1998 as a nominee of the Tamil Maanila Congress. He retained the seat in the poll held in 2001 as a nominee of the then Puduchery Makkal Congress (PMC) floated by former Home Minister P. Kannan. When the PMC merged with the Congress in 2001, he was inducted into the Rangasamy-led Cabinet as Local Administration Minister.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail