Pondicherry: The New Justice Party (NJP) will campaign for the candidates of the ruling Congress and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in the civic polls.

The party's State committee president S. Ponnurangam told the press on Tuesday that the NJP had sought the support of the Congress and the DMK to field candidates in three wards each of the Pondicherry and Oulgaret municipal councils. But with the Democratic Progressive Alliance (Congress, DMK and allies) declining the request, the party had decided to support the DPA nominees. The idea was to ensure a DPA majority in the interests of civic development, he said.

Mr. Ponnurangam said the NJP had backed the DPA in the Assembly polls because it believed the Congress government would take care of the Velalars and Sengunthar communities by including them in the Most Backward Classes (MBCs) list instead of retaining them in the backward classes list.

The NJP leader said his party was opposed to the demand of the Karaikal Struggle Group that Karaikal be made a separate Union Territory. This was unviable and would only pave the way for the merger of Karaikal with Tamilnadu, he said. Mr. Ponnurangam conceded that Karaikal's grievances had to be addressed. This could be done by ensuring proper development, increasing employment and providing admission to students into professional institutions.

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