In the face of freshly brewing differences within the Puducherry Congress, the All India NR Congress (AINRC) candidate for Puducherry R Radhakrishnan met senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member P Kannan on Tuesday. He sought to secure the leader’s support for AINRC, after his loyalists revolted against the nomination of Union Minister of State for PMO V Narayanasamy to contest from the Puducherry seat.
The move comes after loyalists of Kannan tendered their resignation from the primary membership of the party as well as from all posts they had been holding as on March 15.
Around 50 members including two Pradesh Congress committee secretaries have resigned from their posts. Though Kannan is mum over this issue, this move by his loyalists has simmered speculations of his probable split from the Congress. In full know of the fact that this move by Kannan could spell doom for Congress in a contest that is expected to be stiff, Congress is making all attempts to retain him. Some AICC members have been attempting to pacify Kannan, but Kannan has so far not responded to their calls, party sources said.
What Kannan may be expecting is a response from senior AICC members, the like of AICC general secretary in charge of Puducherry Mukul Wasnik and Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, sources close to Kannan said.
Meanwhile, Kannan has remained unreachable for the past two days triggering speculations of his quitting Congress. “He may be joining the BJP. Talks are going on between him and senior BJP leaders. Things will be clear in a day or two,” reliable sources in BJP said.