P Kannan joins BJP ahead of Puducherry assembly polls

Ahead of assembly polls in Puducherry, former Puducherry minister P Kannan on Sunday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the national capital.

Following the declaration of candidates, BJP National General Secretary Arun Singh welcomed Kannan and his son at the party headquarters.

Puducherry BJP in-charge Nirmal Kumar Surana on Tuesday had announced that the party has finalised its seat-sharing deal with the NR Congress and All India Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) for the upcoming legislative Assembly elections in the union territory.

"NR Congress, BJP and AIADMK are going to contest the elections together," he said.

"NRC will contest on 16 seats and BJP-AIADMK to contest on 14 seats. We will face elections in Puducherry under the leadership of N Rangaswamy," Surana said adding that the alliance will contest polls under the leadership of NR Congress chief and former CM of the Union Territory N Rangaswamy.

Polling for 30 assembly seats in Puducherry will be held on April 6.

Of the 30 assembly seats, five are reserved for the Scheduled Caste candidates. As many as 10,02,589 electors will choose the candidates for the 15 legislative Assembly of Puducherry.

The Congress-led government in the union territory fell before completing its five-year term under Chief Minister V Narayansamy.

Narayanasamy had resigned on February 22 ahead of a floor test in the 33-member House (including three nominated) following the resignations of five Congress and one Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) legislators. On February 23, President Ram Nath Kovind accepted the resignation of Narayanasamy and his council of ministers.

Kiran Bedi was replaced as Puducherry L-G with Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan being given the additional charge of the union territory.

In the 2016 assembly polls, Congress had won 15 seats, All India NR Congress eight seats, AIADMK got four seats, DMK walked away with two MLAs. BJP could not win any seats.