Just a day before the last day to file nomination papers, Chief Minister N Rangaswamy was nowhere to be seen in Puducherry. Anxious candidates and party followers were searching for him everywhere. His mobile phone was also switched off.
Somebody suggested that they better look for him at some temple, and the person was right. Rangaswamy was busy offering prayers at a temple in neighbouring Tamil Nadu.
When angry party leaders questioned his casual attitude, he replied that the gods and his gurus who are now dead will ensure that his party wins. Most of them just smiled because they knew that the wind was blowing in favour of the opposition and Rangaswamy was fast losing the ground.
Most pre-poll surveys had also predicted his defeat at the hands of Congress –DMK led alliance. However, Rangaswamy was unfazed. He kept telling his coterie that he was going to retain power with the help of divine powers and signs from heaven.
An hour after the counting of votes started, it was clear that he was on his way out. Out of total 30 seats in the Union Territory, his party AINRC was in the race in less than 10 seats. The DMK-Congress alliance clinched victory by bagging 17 seats.
The Congress, which Rangaswamy quit ahead of the 2011 Assembly elections, to float his own party AINRC has now taken revenge on him. Rangaswamy will have to sit in the opposition licking his wounds for the next five years.
But, political observers caution that he is a 24/7 politician and can try to break the DMK-Congress alliance after a year or two. He has already offended Jayalalithaa due to his opportunistic politics and she is unlikely to lend him any help.
The Congress which has been decimated all over India can now claim that it is ruling the tiny Union Territory of Puducherry. The DMK which gave a good fight in Tamil Nadu is not even in a mood to celebrate its victory in the former French enclave.
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