Union Minister Murugan to meet Puducherry CM to resolve dispute between BJP, AINRC

Puducherry, Sep 22 Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting and Fisheries L. Murugan is slated to meet Puducherry Chief Minister N. Rangasamy on Friday to solve the vexed issue between the saffron party and All India NR Congress(AINRC).

While BJP is an alliance partner of AINRC in Puducherry, ever since Rangasamy became Chief Minister of the territorial government, there have been differences between the two coalition partners. BJP Puducherry unit president Saminathan told that they are expecting a good meeting between the two leaders.

Sources in the BJP told that if the meeting fails to give a positive result, then the BJP unit is planning to complain to the national leadership.

The Puducherry Unit of the BJP is sore that Rangasamy has not been considering them for any new postings and that the Chief Minister was deliberately not filling the posts of Chairman in Public Sector Undertakings, including corporations. The BJP is of the opinion that the Chief Minister was deliberately not filling the posts to avoid the claims of the BJP leadership.

It is to be noted that the Puducherry unit president of the BJP, Saminathan, and Home Minister and senior BJP leader A. Namassivayam had recently met the Chief Minister and urged him to fill the vacant posts of Chairmen and other allied posts. However, the Chief Minister did not agree to their demands and said that the corporations and mills were bleeding and that it was not viable to open it for the sake of opening. The Chief Minister, it is learned, has told the leaders that it was not possible to appoint new chairman in PSUs that were loss-making entities.

Rangasamy, according to BJP sources, has informed the leaders that he won't have any problem in appointing new chairman for the PSU given the possibility that the central government is providing extra funds to these corporations.

During the last Assembly session, BJP MLA Kalyanasundaram had lashed out at the state government and especially Chief Minister and pointed out that there were irregularities in sanctioning new distilleries. This was seen as a direct fight the BJP had taken to the doorsteps of the Chief Minister.

However, sources in the party told that the ice may break with the arrival of Murugan, who was the state president of the BJP in neighbouring Tamil Nadu and has an excellent personal rapport with Chief Minister Rangasamy.