Cong. (I) wants majority of seats in Pondy

By Javed M. Ansari

NEW DELHI, APRIL 6. The Congress(I) today reiterated that it would not share power with the PMK in Pondicherry and indicated that the Congress(I)-TMC combine would keep 20 seats and give the remaining 10 to the AIADMK.

The party also made it clear that it favoured the 1996 formula, under which it contested a majority of the seats in Pondicherry. Emphasising his party's position as the major party in the Union Territory, the AICC(I) general-secretary in-charge of Pondicherry and Tamil Nadu, Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad, said the bottom line was that his party was in power and had won nine of the 19 Assembly seats it contested, besides winning the lone Lok Sabha seat. ``We must lead the government since we are the main party.''

In a bid to keep the AIADMK in good humour, Mr. Azad said the Congress(I) would welcome it if that party joined the government if the secular front came to power. But he also made it clear that the offer was limited to the AIADMK and did not include the PMK. ``Our decision on the PMK remains,'' Mr. Azad said. The Congress(I) would have no objections if the AIADMK chose to share its seats with the PMK in Pondicherry.

He said what the party was proposing was based on the principle of allowing the Congress(I) and the AIADMK to form governments in their areas of influence. As for Tamil Nadu, it had been decided that the AIADMK alone would form the government and the Congress- TMC combine would stay out of it.

Mr. Azad pointed out that the two parties had agreed to delink the Pondicherry issue during the negotiations in order to facilitate an alliance. According to him, the Congress(I) had made it clear that not only would it not share power with the PMK but would also want the Congress(I)-TMC combine to contest 20 of the 30 seats.

The issue, according to Mr. Azad, had come back into focus since local leaders of the secular front had been talking about it. He said he would confer tomorrow with the Pondicherry Chief Minister, Mr. P. Shanmugham, the PCC(I) chief, Mr. V. Narayanaswamy, the former PCC(I), Mr. Vaidyalingam, and the Lok Sabha MP, Mr. M.O.H. Farooq.

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