<p>Chennai: With just about 20 days to go for April 9 assembly elections, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Puducherry plunged into a crisis on Tuesday with AINRC president and Chief Minister N Rangaswamy refusing to meet Union Minister and BJP election in charge Mansukh Mandaviya for a discussion on alliance. </p><p>Rangaswamy has also threatened to quit the NDA if the BJP doesn’t agree to his demand of keeping out of the alliance the Latchiya Jananayaga Katchi of lottery baron Santiago Martin’s son Jose Charles Martin. Things came to a naught on Monday night after Rangaswamy went into a huddle with his senior colleagues and discussed the possibility of breaking away from the NDA ostensibly to protest against the Union Government’s silence on granting statehood to Puducherry.</p><p>AINRC leaders then went to meet Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya at a five star hotel and told him that Rangaswamy was against inclusion of Jose’s party into the NDA. “He has made it clear that he cannot co-exist with Martin’s son, and he won’t even hesitate to quit the NDA,” a source aware of the developments told DH. </p>.Rajya Sabha elections: Dravidian majors brace for hard bargain by allies.<p>In the morning, Rangaswamy refused to meet Mandaviya, who left for New Delhi along with in-charge Nirmal Kumar Surana after waiting for him for two hours. If the AINRC quits NDA, the party is likely to ally with actor Vijay’s Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam which is looking for an alliance partner in the Union Territory. </p><p>The differences cropped out after the AINRC and BJP agreed on the seat sharing arrangement with the former getting 16 seats and 14 seats respectively. Time is also running out as the last date for filing nominations is on March 23.</p><p>Meanwhile, the Congress-DMK alliance is also struggling to come to an agreement on the number of seats to be contested by them. The parties have almost decided to contest in 14 seats each and allot the remaining two seats to allies but a formal agreement is yet to be signed. </p><p>“We are still in talks. But at the same time we are also finalizing candidates for the constituencies we will be contesting,” a Congress leader told DH. </p>
<p>Chennai: With just about 20 days to go for April 9 assembly elections, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Puducherry plunged into a crisis on Tuesday with AINRC president and Chief Minister N Rangaswamy refusing to meet Union Minister and BJP election in charge Mansukh Mandaviya for a discussion on alliance. </p><p>Rangaswamy has also threatened to quit the NDA if the BJP doesn’t agree to his demand of keeping out of the alliance the Latchiya Jananayaga Katchi of lottery baron Santiago Martin’s son Jose Charles Martin. Things came to a naught on Monday night after Rangaswamy went into a huddle with his senior colleagues and discussed the possibility of breaking away from the NDA ostensibly to protest against the Union Government’s silence on granting statehood to Puducherry.</p><p>AINRC leaders then went to meet Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya at a five star hotel and told him that Rangaswamy was against inclusion of Jose’s party into the NDA. “He has made it clear that he cannot co-exist with Martin’s son, and he won’t even hesitate to quit the NDA,” a source aware of the developments told DH. </p>.Rajya Sabha elections: Dravidian majors brace for hard bargain by allies.<p>In the morning, Rangaswamy refused to meet Mandaviya, who left for New Delhi along with in-charge Nirmal Kumar Surana after waiting for him for two hours. If the AINRC quits NDA, the party is likely to ally with actor Vijay’s Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam which is looking for an alliance partner in the Union Territory. </p><p>The differences cropped out after the AINRC and BJP agreed on the seat sharing arrangement with the former getting 16 seats and 14 seats respectively. Time is also running out as the last date for filing nominations is on March 23.</p><p>Meanwhile, the Congress-DMK alliance is also struggling to come to an agreement on the number of seats to be contested by them. The parties have almost decided to contest in 14 seats each and allot the remaining two seats to allies but a formal agreement is yet to be signed. </p><p>“We are still in talks. But at the same time we are also finalizing candidates for the constituencies we will be contesting,” a Congress leader told DH. </p>