A few things about Puducherry Chief Minister N. Rangasamy never change: all his campaign rallies start from a temple; the campaign vehicle prominently displays the portrait of a godman he reveres; the campaign starts at a time he deems auspicious (not necessarily aligned with the Tamil calendar); and every speech is followed by a public interaction, regardless of how far behind schedule he is and how uncomfortable the questions may be.

His devotion to a godman (now deceased), Appa Paithiyam Swami (paithiyam in Tamil means mad), is unshakeable. This godman has influence in parts of Salem and in Puducherry. There is a temple dedicated to him in Lawspet, in the heart of Puducherry. Rangasamy once told this correspondent that his entire life was shaped by the godman. Rangasamy himself sports an ash-smeared forehead, and on certain Saturdays, spends long hours meditating in a local temple. He also feeds the poor on those days.

On April 1, Rangasamy’s campaign for the 2026 Puducherry Assembly election began opposite Arulsakhthi Mariamman Koil, Pettayanchatram. Before he began his speech, Rangasamy casually called out to a person in the small crowd that had gathered to ask if he was well.

In a Union Territory where the average number of voters per constituency is only about 30,000, it is not surprising for Rangasamy to know someone or the other in the crowd. In a rather monotonous speech, largely shorn off rhetoric, Rangasamy listed the benefits that people of the Union Territory had received under his stewardship. “I have made sure that all of you have access to all welfare schemes that were implemented,” he said.

The speech lasted about 15 minutes. What followed was the most interesting part. A woman from the crowd wanted to ask a question. Rangasamy encouraged her. Emboldened, she asked him: “Will this be the last time we see you, or will you come after the elections as well?” Rangasamy did not pause before replying: “I have been coming to Tilagar Nagar often. Perhaps I did not come to your house, but I will certainly come soon.”

This too is a normal expectation from voters. A Chief Minister who plays tennis and who, at 75, still rides his old Yamaha bike and drinks tea at a neighbourhood stall after his morning walk, is expected to visit ordinary voters at home. “I try to go to as many homes as possible,” he said. After interacting with the crowd for about 20 minutes, Rangasamy left for the next campaign stop.

But there is a streak of stubbornness in Rangasamy that few people see. In the run-up to the 2021 election, he reportedly did not want any tie-up with the BJP as he was confident that his party, the All India NR Congress (AINRC), would win the election on its own. The BJP, however, did not relent. According to one source, it used the time-tested method of unleashing Central agencies on those close to Rangasamy. The pressure had the desired effect: a few days ahead of the close of nominations, Rangasamy joined the BJP alliance.

The claim gains further credence fromV. Narayanasamy, a former Chief Minister of the Union Territory, who said that his own colleagues in the Congress resigned and joined the BJP in 2021 under pressure from Central agencies. “These people [referring to Namassivayam and John Kumar, both Ministers in the Congress Ministry from 2016 to 2021] went to the BJP fearing the ED, Income Tax [Department] and the CBI. And some of the MLAs, they purchased,” he told Frontline in an interview.

After the 2021 election, there was a huge gap before the government was formed. Finally, after nearly a month-long stand-off between Rangasamy and the BJP, the former secured one concession: the BJP dropped its insistence on the post of Deputy Chief Minister. The issue did not resurface until 2026.

While the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) is part of the BJP-AINRC alliance, the latter has also roped in a new political outfit, the Latchiya Jananayaga Katchi (LJK).

Unhappy with the LJK

Rangasamy is not happy about having the LJK, a party formed just months ago by Jose Charles Martin, son of the oft-raided lottery businessman Santiago Martin. There is a backstory here. Reportedly, Martin Jr began to work towards an entry into Puducherry a year ago, after his brother-in-law Aadhav Arjun joined actor Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam.

“Charles has been quite generous with his money. He has been ‘feeding’ people for nearly a year,” said a veteran journalist, who added that he had not seen any politician spending this kind of money in the Union Territory before.

While Martin Jr seems to have realised that money can get him power in Puducherry, where MLAs take cash-for-votes to a whole new dimension, the BJP seems to have “encouraged” him to join the alliance in order to control him and later the alliance itself. Despite being uneasy, Rangasamy reportedly could not prevent it.

Martin Jr, who is contesting from Kamaraj Nagar, has declared that he is the accused in five pending cases, two of them for money laundering.

In the 2018 case (SC No 533/2018) pending before the PMLA court (Prevention of Money Laundering Act), both the CBI and the NIA are involved and Martin Jr is accused, as director of the companies, to have signed balance sheets showing the tainted funds as unsecured loans and of having facilitated the use of the proceeds of crime to acquire properties.

In the 2024 case, an Enforcement Case Information Report (similar to an FIR) was generated to enable the ED to investigate. Of the three other cases, all registered in West Bengal, two are from 2019 and one from 2020. All cases involve violation of the Lotteries Regulation Act, 1998, and related issues. Martin Sr contributed generously via electoral bonds to Trinamool Congress as well.

On March 29, Martin Jr invited the Sri Lankan Deputy High Commissioner in south India, a Sri Lankan national, to boost his campaign. The BJP’s Puducherry president was also present. This was considered a breach of ethics by opposition parties. The Congress leader Pawan Khera posted on X: “This is a gross violation of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which states that foreign diplomats “have a duty not to interfere in the internal affairs of that State’. Khera asked the Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to take cognizance.

That Martin Jr cannot be wished away is something Rangasamy is acutely aware of. All he can do therefore is signal to the voters that he has nothing to do with either Martin or his son. He does this most visibly by refusing to use the LJK flag in his campaign vehicle, which has flags of his own party, the BJP, and the AIADMK.

The BJP seems to have calculated that Martin Jr could end up dividing the vote. “He has been limited to two seats. Otherwise, he could have damaged the ruling party in many seats,” said V. Perumal, a senior Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader and State Secretariat member. “Rangasamy has not delivered on many fronts. But because of infighting in its alliance, the Congress party is not in a position to use this discontent and ensure victory either,” he said.

The opposition

The main opposition to the Rangasamy alliance in Puducherry is the Congress-led front, which includes the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, the CPI, and the CPI(M). The constituent parties and the Congress delayed reaching an understanding on seat-sharing.

But an insider from the alliance claimed that the differences are staged. “Everyone in the party hierarchy in both the Congress and the DMK and other allies knew the situation in Puducherry, so why did it take so long? I think this is just business interests helping each other,” he said.

According to him, party lines blur after elections in Puducherry, with leaders from both the BJP and the Congress often doing business together. The principal areas of interest in the Union Territory are liquor and real estate. Now, with Puducherry’s emergence as a leading destination for leisure and entertainment, helped by improved flight connectivity to Bengaluru and Hyderabad, there has been a surge in hotel rates and interest in the hospitality sector. “When everyone is in business together, it is similar to the situation in some States in the northeast. No one wants trouble with Delhi,” said another source.

If this theory holds, it is possible that local leaders on all sides want the status quo to continue. Yet, this still does not answer why Congress MP V. Vaithilingam is taking on the Chief Minister in Thattanchavady. But, as one politician said, “Many leaders here are dealers. Some are not.”

The BJP’s interest in the Union Territory as a stepping stone to the deep south is clear from the fact that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has visited Puducherry twice, ahead of the April 9 election. During his March 1 visit, Rangasamy made a pitch for statehood from a stage he shared with Modi. The Prime Minister, however, did not address the issue then nor did he take it up on his April 1 visit.

Clearly, the Prime Minister knows that these promises do not matter in Puducherry. All that matters is to reach every home in Puducherry, the way Rangasamy does.

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