PUDUCHERRY: After days of negotiations over contesting the lone Rajya Sabha seat in Puducherry, the matter has finally been settled with BJP nominating S Selvaganapathy, the former MLA to contest the polls.
National general secretary of BJP and headquarters in-charge Arun Singh announced this on Tuesday after finalising Selvaganapathy's candidature.
Selvaganapathy, who is from the RSS background, was earlier nominated as an MLA to Puducherry Legislative Assembly. He is an educationist and correspondent of Vivekananda Higher Secondary School in Puducherry.
The AINRC, which was expecting to contest the seat, after BJP nominated three of its men to the Legislative Assembly, finally had to accept the saffron party’s desire to enter the fray.
This was settled after Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Chief Minister N Rangasamy on Monday. Rangasamy, who is heading the UT government, which is directly under the Ministry of Home Affairs, could not refuse the Prime minister's proposal. The CM only insisted that the candidate should be from Puducherry which was accepted by the Prime minister, sources said.
Following this, the BJP took the decision among the shortlisted GNS Vasudevan from Karaikal, the brother of GNS Rajasekaran, the BJP candidate who contested the last Assembly election from Thirunallar unsuccessfully, and S Selvaganapathy. Though the CM wanted his partyman Dr K Narayanasamy to be fielded as BJP nominee, the saffron party decided on Selvaganapathy, sources said . The choice was based on seniority in the party and the background of the candidate as he is an educationist, said the source.