PUDUCHERRY: Former Puducherry Chief Minister V Vaithilingam was appointed as leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) provisionally on Wednesday.
With AICC President Sonia Gandhi out of action, AICC General Secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad took the decision to appoint Vaithilingam as the CLP leader.
Since the Congress is the largest opposition party, Vaithilingam will also be the leader of Opposition.
President of Puducherry Pradesh Congress Committee A V Subramanian, who released the information on the CLP leader’s appointment, said that Vaithilingam, who was away on a private trip to the US, would be back in three to four days.
Though he would miss the session for the first few days, he is expected to be back before the presentation of budget.
Earlier, after the elections, the CLP members had met and adopted a resolution authorising the party president to decide the CLP leader.
AICC secretary K B Krishnamurthy, who came as observer, had also elicited the views of the MLAs through a one-to-one interaction with the party high command.
However, the decision was kept pending due to multiple aspirants and divergent views. The decision to appoint Vaithilingam was taken on the basis of the fact that he was the CLP leader in the previous Assembly, AICC sources said.