Pondy Congress wants to avoid third front

By Radha Venkatesan

CHENNAI, MARCH 19. The Pondicherry Congress leaders have been summoned by the high command to Delhi on Thursday to finalise the party's alliance strategy in the Assembly election in the Union Territory.

The Chief Minister, Mr. P. Shanmugham and the local Congress president, Mr. V. Narayanasamy and the former Chief Minister, Mr. M. Vaithialingam, would hold discussions with the high command on whether to float a third front or join the PMK- inclusive AIADMK front.

The Congress, which has joined the AIADMK front in Tamil Nadu, earlier indicated that it would adopt the `delink' strategy and lead a separate front in the Union Territory. But the Pondicherry Congress is now increasingly keen on avoiding a third front.

Also, the Tamil Nadu Congress is said to have urged the high command to adopt a uniform alliance strategy in both Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry to ``avoid embarrassment'' during electioneering.

Mr. Narayanasamy, who met the TMC president, Mr. G. K. Moopanar, this evening, said alliance talks were in the final stages. The Congress, he said, had urged the AIADMK to give the first turn of chief ministership to the Congress instead of to the PMK.

The AIADMK, in its pact with the PMK, offered the Vanniar-based party the first shot at heading the government in the Union Territory if the AIADMK front won a majority.

Though the ruling Congress in the Union Territory wants to avert a third front as it feels it would benefit the DMK front, it remains obdurate on two aspects. ``We will not give up our prime position in Pondicherry and will not share power with the PMK'', asserts Mr. Narayanasamy.

The TMC, which is part of the ruling combine in Pondicherry, too, is keen on avoiding a third front. TMC sources claim that Mr. Moopanar was trying to persuade the AIADMK to give the first turn of chief ministership to the Congress.

On the other hand, Mr.Moopanar was also impressing upon the Congress to align with the AIADMK in Pondicherry now, and deal with the questions of chief ministership and

power-sharing, after the election, the sources added.

As the PMK appears unrelenting on its claim to first turn of chief ministership, a third front in Pondicherry can be avoided only if the Congress ``becomes a little flexible on chief ministership'', the TMC sources maintained.

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Section  : Southern States
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