Five ministers inducted into Puducherry CM Rangasamy's cabinet after month-long suspense

Nearly two months after the NDA government emerged victorious in the Union Territory, five Ministers were sworn into the CM NR Rangaswamy's cabinet on Sunday by Lieutenant-Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan. Ending the more than month-long suspense over cabinet formation, five ministers -A Namassivayam, K Lakshminarayanan, C Djeacoumar, Chandira Priyanga, and A K Sai J Saravana Kumar - were sworn in at the Raj Nivas on Sunday. The portfolios of the ministers were not revealed.

Lakshminarayanan, Djeacoumar, and Priyanga represent lead partner AINRC, while Namassivayam and Saravana Kumar are from its ally BJP. The exercise also saw a woman member become a minister after a 41-year gap, with Chandira Priyanga being sworn in. Late Congress leader Renuka Appadurai was the last woman minister from the UT during 1980-83 and handled the Education portfolio in the M D R Ramachandran (DMK)-led coalition ministry. It is pertinent to point out that this is the first time the BJP has been a part of the government in the Union Territory. 

Puducherry government formation

The polling for the 2021 Puducherry Assembly polls was held on April 6 with an impressive voter turnout of 81.69 per cent. While Congress was reeling from the toppling of the V Narayanasamy-led government, the AINRC was seeking a comeback bolstered by its alliance with BJP. The election results threw up an interesting outcome with BJP opening its account in the Assembly as 6 of its candidates emerging victorious.

Though AINRC managed to bag 10 seats, Rangasamy could win only one of the two seats he contested in the election. On the other hand, DMK and Congress secured victory in 6 and two constituencies respectively. In a first, 6 Independents got elected to the Puducherry Assembly. While NDA comfortably formed the government, speculation was rife that BJP was demanding a large share of the Ministries.

This is because the nomination of three MLAs- K Venkatesan, V P Ramalingam, and R B Ashok Babu propelled its strength to 9 members. Moreover, Independent MLA Gollapalli Srinivas Ashok who trounced the AINRC chief from Yanam extended his support to BJP. Thus, BJP and AINRC are virtually neck-to-neck in the 33-member Assembly with 10 seats each. While the opposition claimed that the saffron party is seeking to foist its own CM, BJP denied any rift with AINRC.

(With PTI inputs)