By losing the wicket of Puducherry, Congress is bowled out from South India: What the party must do now?

It's yet another debacle for the grand old party, yet another example of a failing model, yet another display of the lack of what should fix the voices of dissents within the party, and it is yet another political drama that closed the screens by eroding the arms of the Congress party as the party is now out of South India after losing its only state in the southern territory - Puducherry. 

The rise of the BJP along with the voice of dissents and disappointments within the Congress party had pushed the grand old party to plunge not in a constituency or in a state, but in South India as a whole, in the territory that houses six states that are more prosperous and advanced than comparing to the northern part of the country. Losing a state through which losing a larger territory doesn't seem to be an issue of a lighter vein and unless the Congress party finds some cure for the voices of dissents, the party has to brace up the erosion of its base from the country. 

What more implies crucial is that Congress had lost Puducherry from its ship when the semi-state is just two months ahead of the assembly polls and the resignation from Puducherry Chief Minister Narayanasamy had come after he failed to prove his majority in the 33-member assembly as about six MLAs from the ruling alliance had resigned their posts and some of them had already joined BJP. The political crisis was on high in Puducherry and the grand old party had failed to save the members even after former Congress president Rahul Gandhi came to the state for the election campaign.

In a drastic plunge, the Congress party is ahead of stepping on the riskier path in South India from countering the oppositions to ensuring that the members stay with the party towards having a revival. It was nearly five troubling years for Narayanasamy as his tenure as the Chief Minister can be defined through the tenure of former Lt. Governor of Puducherry Kiran Bedi. In the last five years, Narayanasamy had battled against Bedi and staged incessant protests by demanding the Center for withdrawing her. 

Though the Congress party in Puducherry had battled against Kiran Bedi in steering its rule, the high command of the grand old party had showered less than expected light on the semi-state towards fixing the intra-party fights, allegations, and powering the party's voice against Kiran Bedi. Though the Congress-led alliance had formed the government, the party had eventually missed saving the magical numbers to complete its fullest term. What the Congress party had seen in the states of Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan had echoed in Puducherry. 

Apart from Rajasthan where revolted leader Sachin Pilot flopped BJP's drama, the Congress had lost the rest of the states - Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, and Puducherry to BJP in recent years. All these states are crucial and significant in India and BJP didn't use any extraordinary powers to topple the Congress rule in these states- the Central ruling party had just found the prospect through the intra-party tussles and dissents in Congress, which unless the Gandhis and some top leaders, no one knows why the party is finding it difficult and even neglecting to address the dissents. 

Though Congress is trying to unite the oppositions against the BJP, the problem lies here is that the party is not working to roof all the oppositions. Lack of mechanisms to clear the clouds of differences with the regional parties has been one of the pivotal reasons why Congress will have a deep and riskier path. One of the other reasons is the party is going hard against the regional leaders, prompting them to cause a drift and form a new political party. 

In Puducherry, the operation for toppling the Congress rule in the semi-state was carried out by NR Congress, led by former Chief Minister N Rangasamy. He launched the party as a breakaway from the Indian National Congress and he has now accomplished his objective of throwing the grand old party away from power. In Puducherry, the dissent and drift were led by Namassivayam, who was the former President of the Congress party in the Union Territory. 

Namassivayam had maintained close ties with Narayanasamy and the former had developed dissent against the latter when the Congress high command had ignored him the ticket of Chief Ministership in the last election. Though he was made minister, the reports say that he was approached by BJP with the assurance that he will be the Chief Ministerial candidate of the Central ruling party in Puducherry for the upcoming polls. Through the assurance, Namassivayam had decided to leave the party by causing a drift as he had taken another MLA along with him and fueled the dissent. 

Following the exit of Namaasivayam and Theepandhayan, another two Congress MLAs - Malladi Krishna Rao and John Kumar, who gave away his MLA post for Narayanasamy in the last elections, had resigned from Congress, making Narayanasamy's government lose the majority. The Center had removed Kiran Bedi from the post of Lt. Governor and replaced her with Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan. On her very first day in office, Soundararajan had ordered Narayanasamy to conduct the trust vote in the assembly to prove his majority. 

On Monday, Narayanasamy had conducted the trust vote and as expected, he had failed to prove his majority following which he tabled his resignation to the Lt. Governor and dissolved his cabinet, marking an end of the Congress rule currently. The storming political crisis had come to an end by ousting Congress rule from South India and alarming the party to address the intra-party rivals to contain further erosion. As Congress had lost its rule, the ball is on Tamilisai's court now. 

Through her, the Center can call BJP-ADMK-NR Congress to play the remaining days of the assembly or it can impose Governor's rule until the election, which is two months away. Whatever, one thing is for sure, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives in Puducherry on February 25, he would be landing in South India that had ousted the Congress party. The grand old party has lost its wicket Puducherry to get bowled out from South India. The party must now change its batting strategies to face the ball of dissents before it becomes heated rebels. 
 

 

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