Contestants launch campaign in Puducherry

With a five-cornered contest making it a tough battle for the lone Lok Sabha seat in this tiny union territory, going to polls on April 24, candidates have started wooing voters either through personal contacts or by holding meetings.
All key players, barring ruling AINRC which has tied up with BJP, are going to the poll without any alliance in the former French colony, making it a rare scenario.
AINRC, Congress, DMK and AIADMK have already announced their candidates while CPI, contesting the Parliament election for the first time in 47 years without being an ally of any non-Communist party, is yet to name its nominee.

Congress candidate and Union Minister V Narayanasamy, seeking re-election, ruling AINRC's R Radhakrishnan, DMK nominee A M H Nazeem and AIADMK candidate M V Omalingam are already sweating it out as the multi-cornered contest offers a keen fare.
Narayanasamy, whose re-nomination has come in for flak from a section of party owing allegiance to Rajya Sabha MP P Kannan has been addressing meetings of different wings of the party.
He has called on among others, K Lakshminarayanan, a close confidant of Kannan, to formally seek his support.

AINRC has fielded Radhakrishnan, a former Assembly Speaker, and has virtually made it prestige fight between party founder and Chief Minister N Rangasamy, who broke away from Congress ahead of 2011 Assembly polls, and his arch rival Narayanasamy.

Nazeem, a sitting legislator representing Karaikal South constituency, took part at a party meeting yesterday convened to formally introduce him as the candidate.
As for as CPI, its state unit secretary and former Agriculture Minister R Viswanathan is tipped to be the choice.