Puducherry polls: Congress is 'dismantled', says P Kannan after joining BJP

After joining the BJP ahead of Puducherry Assembly polls, former Puducherry minister P Kannan said he resigned from the Congress as the party is dismantled.

"I was Congressman for the past 55 years. I joined politics to do social work, bring up the downtrodden, help youngsters get employment and aid the nation's development. I was disappointed after a long time. The old Congress party has disappeared. It is dismantled. I will say that they have virtually killed the Congress party," Kannan said.

"There is no Congress party that we dreamt of. I came to the Congress party after seeing Kamraj, the great leader. Now I am coming to the BJP seeing PM Narendra Modi. He is a very courageous leader who takes the boldest steps," he added.

Asked if he has any plans to contest elections, he said, "I am not contesting elections in Puducherry. I gave up my seat to a boy 20 years ago after continuously winning from there for five consecutive terms. I am not after power or positions".

Ahead of assembly polls in Puducherry, P Kannan and his son on Sunday joined the BJP in the national capital.

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. NR Congress 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.

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.