PUDUCHERRY: A Tamilselvan (43), nephew of Puducherry Chief Minister and All India NR Congress (AINRC) chief N Rangasamy, filed his nomination papers to contest the October 13 by-election in Indira Nagar constituency after he was declared party nominee on Monday.Just a few hours before the filing of nominations drew to a close, the suspense over the AINRC nominee was lifted with Rangasamy nominating Tamilselvan, the son of his elder brother N Adikesavan. The by-poll was necessitated after Rangasamy, who had won from two constituencies, quit the seat.After offering prayers at the Kadirkamam Kadirvel temple, Tamilselvan filed the papers before the Returning Officer, accompanied by Rangasamy, Party General Secretary V Bhalan and former Chairman of Oulgaret Municipality N S Jayabal.This is Tamilselvan’s first plunge into the election scene, though he had been associated with elections for almost a decade as Rangasamy’s poll campaign manager.Party sources said that his close association with the local people and the confidence the party leader has in him has made him the right choice.On the other hand NS Jayabal, a strong contender for contesting the election on behalf of the party, had not found favour with Rangasamy as the distance between them widened ever since Rangasamy floated the AINRC.Jayabal had been a strong supporter of Rangasamy during his “days of trouble in the Congress” and had been instrumental in the formation of several associations in the name of NR (NR Peravai and NR Thozhil Sangam).However, Jayabal’s good relations with some Congress leaders and his ‘non-committal’ attitude towards Rangasamy have acted against him."During the decision-making process, he never voices his opinion and is always non-committal. How can Rangasamy have confidence in such a person?” said a political observer.Many within the party believe that Jayabal was not in favour of breaking away from Congress, but wanted to bargain with them for seats from a position of strength. In fact, Rangasamy contested both Indira Nagar and Kadirkamam constituencies in the Assembly polls as he did not want to field Jayabal. Being a new party, Rangasamy did not want to take chance by fielding a new candidate.Now, after winning the Assembly election and knowing his party’s strength, he has gone ahead with a new candidate in Indira Nagar. However, with Jayabal having good followers within the party, Rangasamy’s main task would be to keep him in good humour so as to eliminate any chances of him rocking the boat.Meanwhile, for the Congress, V Arumugham popularly known as ‘AKD’ , who contested the last Assembly elections against Rangasamy unsuccessfully, filed his nomination papers. Former Chief Minister V Vaithilingam, former ministers V Pethaperumal, K Lakshminarayanan and Pradesh Congress Committee President A V Subramanian joined him during his filing of nomination. A cop-turned-politician, he is working to cash on by citing the lapses of the Rangasamy government.AIADMK candidate A Venkateswaran, popularly known as Suttukeni Baskaran, had earlier filed his nomination papers for the by-poll, leading to a three-cornered contest. Venkateswaran had unsuccessfully contested the Assembly elections in 2006 from Manadipet constituency. Now, he is contesting from a totally new constituency where the party does not have political base. But that has not deterred the party from putting up a good challenge. It is focusing on the lapses of Rangasamy government in the past and present and the failure to keep up with the poll promises, said A Anbazhagan, secretary of the local unit of the party.The deteriorating law and order is another issue AIADMK plans to bank on. With 23 murders in a span of four months, the party would be using it against Rangasamy and his party nominee.Besides the three main contenders, V Vaithinathan of BSP, R Shanmugham of India Jananayaga Katchi and two independents have also filed nomination papers.The point of interest would be whether either Congress or the AIADMK would be able to cut a slice in this Rangasamy stronghold.
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