Puducherry govt announces portfolios of Ministers; CM N Rangasamy to hold 13 portfolios

The Puducherry government on Sunday announced the distribution of portfolios of Ministers. It said that Puducherry Chief Minister will hold 13 portfolios, including Health and Family Welfare, Hindu Religious Institutions and Wakf Board. Giving out further details, the Puducherry government informed that Home Minister A Namassivayam will hold 6 portfolios, including Industries and Commerce & Sports and Youth Affairs.

Puducherry govt announces distribution of portfolios of Ministers

As per the official announcements, Public Works Minister Lakshminarayan has been allotted 6 portfolios including Information and Technology and Law. Whereas, C. Djeacoumar, Agriculture Minister will hold Women and Child Development, and Backward Class Welfare. He will be holding a total of 6 portfolios. Transport Minister Chandira Priyanga will also be holding 6 portfolios, including Economics and Statistics, and Labour and Employment.

A.K. SAI J. Saravanan Kumar, the Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Minister will be holding Community Development and Fire Services among others.

Earlier on June 27, five MLAs of the ruling coalition government led by Chief Minister N Rangasamy had been sworn in as ministers by Lieutenant Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan. A Namassivayam of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Chandira Priyanga of All India NR Congress are among the prominent names who were inducted into the cabinet.

The AINRC-led NDA had won in the single-phase Puducherry assembly elections, which were held on April 6. This is the first time that the BJP is part of the government in the union territory. The BJP which was angling for a Deputy chief minister's post settled for the Speaker's post and BJP's R Selvam was elected unopposed as Speaker of the Puducherry Assembly on June 16.

5 ministers inducted into Puducherry CM Rangasamy's Cabinet

Earlier in June, 5 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. 

(Image: ANI, PTI)