NEW DELHI, NOV 20: The decks have been cleared for the formation of a Congress-led government in Pondicherry with the support of the Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC) even as negotiations with the latter on its merger with the Congress are at an advanced stage.The 30-member Pondicherry Assembly is at present being led by the DMK-TMC combine.The parties have eight and six members, respectively. With the support of the Janata Dal and Communist Party of India, which have one Member of Legislative Assembly each, the alliance has been able to manage a majority in the Assembly.All-India Congress Committee sources said senior Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Vyalar Ravi has already been despatched to Pondicherry and party treasurer Ahmed Patel is to follow soon to work out the modalities of government formation there. The Tamila Maanila Congress is yet to make its break with the Dravida Munetra Kazhagam in Pondicherry formal but it is said to have communicated its readiness to support a Congress-led governmentin Pondicherry to the Congress.The changed political equations in the state have come about in the wake of the Tamil Maanila Congress's disastrous electoral performance in Tamil Nadu where it fought the Lok Sabha elections virtually alone but was not able to secure a single seat. The Tamil Maanila Congress has been in a quandary in Pondicherry after the Dravida Munetra Kazhagam joined the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and became its main opposition in Tamil Nadu.Sources said that Tamil Maanila Congress president G K Moopanar has been in regular touch with Congress president Sonia Gandhi and other senior party leaders not only on an alliance in Pondicherry but also on the issue of the eventual merger of his party with the Congress. Earlier this month, a high-level Congress team comprising All-India Congress Committee general secretary R K Dhawan, All-India Congress Committee secretary Anil Shastri and party MP Mani Shankar Aiyar had visited Tamil Nadu and interacted with state unit leaders onthis issue. The TMC's realignment with the Congress (which has eight MLAs) and the AIADMK (which has three MLAs) will ensure a comfortable majority for the new alliance a combined strength of 17.Party sources said that while it has been agreed upon informally that the Chief Minister will be from the Congress, the issue of the candidate for the top post was still to be sorted out. The Congress has to make a choice from the PCC president P Shanmugham, legislature party leader and former chief minister Vaidyalingam and another former chief minister, M Farooq, who won the lone Lok Sabha seat from Pondicherry.Negotiations between the Congress and the TMC for an electoral alliance, if not an outright merger, have been on since before the Lok Sabha polls but gathered momentum after the poll results. Both parties have now realised that it is imperative for their political interests to stay together and carve out an anti-DMK front along with the AIADMK. Sonia is learnt to have indicated to Moopanar that she isnot averse to the TMC rejoining the Congress.
