Assembly Elections 2026: Puducherry: The Power of Presence

 AS TENSIONS SURFACE within NDA in Puducherry, N Rangasamy must defend both his government and his authority within it.

Puducherry will go to polls on April 9 with its ruling alliance under strain. Days after finalising a seat-sharing ar­rangement with BJP, Chief Minister N Rangasamy skipped a key NDA co­ordination meeting, triggering specu­lation about tensions within the coali­tion in office since 2021. The alliance between the All India NR Congress (AINRC) and BJP holds, but the episode has exposed Rangasamy’s dependence on BJP and his simultaneous need to maintain an independent identity in a territory where alliances are integral to power.

Rangasamy, a four-time chief min­ister, rose within Congress, broke away in 2011 to form AINRC and has since built a personalised political base. His authority has never rested on rhetoric or ideology. It has flowed from presence, accessibility and welfare deliv­ery. In Puducherry, where the Assembly has just 30 seats and narrow margins are the norm, that kind of familiarity can be more durable than party loyalty. Rangasamy has, over time, turned it into political capital that allows him to survive shifts that might unseat a more conventional leader.

The good thing for NDA is that the ri­val DMK-Congress block is squabbling too. Congress has two MLAs to DMK’s six but still wants the pole position while its ally seeks extension of “Dravid­ian” model to the Union Territory. For­mer Chief Minister and Congress leader V Narayanasamy is 78 and continues to be a contender for the job. Despite jockeying within NDA, voters will weigh the benefits of electing a govern­ment at odds with the Centre.

As a Union Territory with a legis­lature, Puducherry’s governance is di­vided between the elected government and the lieutenant governor, with the Centre retaining significant control over administration and finances. Rangasamy’s periodic calls for full state­hood, including a recent suggestion that he would consider an election boycott if there were unanimity among parties, speak to gripes that elected govern­ments operate with limited autonomy. By raising the issues, the chief minister also hopes to limit room for manoeuvre for his rivals.

The current friction with BJP is a case in point. Since 2021, Rangasamy has governed with BJP support, and the alliance has provided a degree of stabil­ity unusual for Puducherry’s volatile politics. But it has also required adjust­ment. BJP’s growing organisational assertiveness and its tendency to na­tionalise local contests sit uneasily with Rangasamy’s style. His ab­sence from the NDA meeting was, in that sense, an assertion of autonomy within an alliance that increasingly demands alignment.

With only 30 seats and a major­ity mark of 16, AINRC currently has 10 MLAs and BJP six. The Congress- DMK combine remains the principal opposition and anti-incumbency has begun to find expression in criticism of governance, administrative delays and the limits imposed by the Centre. In such a setting, the question is not simply whether Rangasamy returns to power but how. A reduced mandate would leave him more dependent, his authority diluted within the alliance; a decisive win would allow him to reassert the political equation on his own terms.