Narayanasamy accepts responsibility for Congress defeat in Puducherry

Chennai: Senior Congress leader and former Chief Minister of Puducherry, V. Narayanasamy has taken moral responsibility for the defeat of the party in the Assembly elections.

While he was leading the Congress in the elections, he preferred not to contest the polls.

The NDA has secured a majority in the elections to the Puducherry Union Territory with the AINRC bagging 10 seats and the BJP 6 seats in the 30-member Assembly. DMK won 6 seats while the Congress had to remain satisfied with 2 seats. Six Independent candidates have also won the elections.

Narayanasamy while speaking to IANS said, "I owe the responsibility for the drubbing in the April 6 Assembly elections and bow my head before the verdict given by the people of Puducherry."

The former Chief Minister had drawn flak for his poor performance and the unpopularity of Narayanasamy as Chief minister was highlighted during the elections. Moreover, the Congress could only win two seats in the elections and faced its worst drubbing in the history of Puducherry Assembly elections.

Ramesh Parambath of the Congress who scraped through from Mahe near Thalassery Assembly constituency in Kerala, won by a margin of 300 votes against the CPI-M candidate Haridasan Master. The other Congressman to win was M. Vaithianathan who joined the party after he was denied a ticket from the AINRC. He defeated BJP Puducherry state president V. Saminathan by a margin of 5,701 votes.

The anti incumbency factor came out heavily against the Congress in the elections. Several Congress leaders had quit the party and joined the AINRC and the BJP before the polls. Congress turncoats A.K.D.V. Aroumougham and K.S.P. Ramesh won. While Aroumougham defeated his nearest rival M. Kannan of the Congress by 18,531 votes, Ramesh beat Congress leader P. Selvanadane by a margin of 12,246 votes. These two were the highest margins won by the NDA candidates and both these leaders were earlier from the Congress.