Narayanasamy-led ministry assumes charge in Puducherry

PUDUCHERRY: Former Union minister of state V

Narayanasamy

, who was elected as the Congress legislature party leader, was sworn in as the chief minister of the Union territory of Puducherry on Monday.

Five elected members of the party, all former ministers – A Namassivayam, Malladi Krishna Rao, M Candassamy, M O H F Shahjahan and R Kamalakannan – were sworn in as ministers.

Lt Governor Kiran Bedi administered the oath of office and secrecy to Narayanasamy and his cabinet colleagues at Gandhi Thidal on the Beach Road at 12.10pm.

Prominent leaders who attended the ceremony include All India Congress Committee general secretary Mukul Wasnik and DMK treasurer M K Stalin.

Former chief minister and All India NR Congress founder leader N Rangasamy and seven MLAs of his party did not attend the function.

Congress MLA and former minister K Lakshminarayanan, who was not offered a ministerial berth, also did not attend the function revealing that all is not well in the Congress.

Narayanasamy did not contest assembly poll. One of the elected members of the party need to resign to enable Narayanasamy to become a member of the legislature within six months. This means a byelection will be held in Puducherry in the next few months.