Nearly two months after Puducherry election results were announced and N Rangasamy took over as the chief minister of the union territory, five members of the legislative assembly (MLAs) were sworn in as cabinet ministers on Sunday, 27 June.
Those who were sworn-in included three AINRC members and two BJP members. The two BJP leaders included Namassivayayam, who had quit Congress before the polls and joined the BJP, and the other is Sai J Saravanan Kumar.
The other three leaders who were sworn in as cabinet ministers included K Lakshminarayanan, C Djeacoumar and Chandira Priyanga.
Priyanga will be Puducherry’s first female minister in over four decades.
Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan administered the oath of office to the ministers in a ceremony which was held outside Lt Governor’s office and residence, Raj Nivas.
The delay in the swearing-in was due to the power-sharing talks between the BJP and AINRC. Earlier, the BJP had reportedly asked for the post of deputy chief minister but later settled for the Speaker’s position.
Rangasamy was sworn in on 7 May, but the cabinet formation was delayed due to the disagreement between the two parties.
Of the 30 seats in the Assembly, AINRC had won 10 while the BJP won six seats. Congress was decimated to two seats, while DMK won 6 seats.
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