Took up development needs of Puducherry with BJP leadership: Chief Minister

Chief Minister and AINRC president N. Rangasamy on Sunday said he has taken up the “development needs” of Puducherry with BJP new working president Nitin Nabin when the latter called on him during his two-day visit to the Union Territory.

Mr Nabin along with Union Minister for Labour and Sports and BJP’s Puducherry election in-charge Mansukh Mandaviya met Mr Rangasamy at his residence. The Chief Minister took the BJP leaders to a temple he had constructed near the house for his spiritual guru Appa Paithiam Swami. He offered puja and distributed prasadam to the BJP leaders.

Later in a brief interaction, the Chief Minister said the BJP leaders have been apprised of the needs of UT. “It was just a courtesy call as Mr Nabin has taken over as working president,” To repeated questions on whether his party’s alliance with BJP will continue for 2026 Assembly polls, he said “we are having a NDA government in Puducherry.”

Rangasamy is NDA leader.

Mr Mandaviya separately told journalists Mr Rangasamy will continue to remain the leader of NDA in Puducherry. 

“Mr Modi is our leader in Delhi and Mr Rangasamy in Puducherry. We are confident of returning to power under the leadership of Mr Rangasamy in 2026. The BJP has always given respect to alliance party leaders. In Bihar, even when we had more number of seats than our alliance partner JDU in the previous tenure, we supported Nitish Kumar as Chief Minister of that State. So, we always respect our alliance partner,” he said.

When asked about Chief Minister’s demand for Statehood, the Union Minister said regional parties will have their own aspirations and commitments. “Regional parties will have their views and we as a national party, has our commitments and views. We always respect the views of alliance partner and try to addresses their concerns,” he said.

Puducherry Home Minister A. Namassivayam, who was present during the interactions, said there was no confusion in the alliance as was evident during Chief Minister’s interaction with our leadership. “You could see from the reception the Chief Minister accorded to our working president and Union Minister. He personally performed puja and spend time with us in the temple,” he said.

The NDA, he said was moving ahead with a development plan. “The meeting with Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu on Saturday evening showed our commitment towards development. By January we will have a Zoho training Centre and he has promised to have an IT research and development centre in Puducherry during the course of next five years,” he said.

Courtesy meet with L-G

Mr Nabin before winding up his two-day party workers in Puducherry also had a “courtesy meeting” with Lt Governor K. Kailashnathan. He also held several round of interaction with core committee members and senior leaders.