Ex-Puducherry CM Rangasamy says his newly formed party to contest in LS polls

AINRC founder and former Puducherry Chief Minister N Rangasamy Thursday announced that the party would contest the lone seat in the union territory in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. However, the alliance with the BJP which the party had forged during the Parliamentary polls in 2014 would continue, he told reporters here.

"The alliance AINRC had worked out with the BJP during the last Lok Sabha polls in 2014 and won continues without change," he said. Speaking on the sidelines of AINRC's ninth founding day celebrations, Rangasamy who is the leader of the opposition in the territorial assembly said the party`s nominee for the polls would be announced: "at the appropriate time."

On the tussle between Lt Governor Kiran Bedi and Chief Minister V Narayanaswamy, he said the latter had "wasted precious time by finding fault with Bedi on administrative issues knowing full well that in a union territory the Lt Governor had more powers than an elected government under the Constitution." Narayanasamy's frequent squabbling with the Lt Governor was only affecting implementation of welfare schemes, he alleged.

Appreciating the good performance of the Narendra Modi-led NDA government at the Centre, he said, "the proposals contained in the union budget would go a long way in ameliorating a lot of farmers, tax-payers and others and the budget is a well-planned statement for the progress of the nation."

(With inputs from agencies.)