PUDUCHERRY: For the first time in the history of Puducherry BJP entered the citadels of power with the swearing-in of the N Rangasamy cabinet.
After a long wait of more than one and half month, five ministers -- two from BJP and three from AINRC -- were sworn in on Sunday.
A Namassivayam and A K Saravanan Kumar of the BJP, along with K Lakshminarayanan, C Djeacoumar and Chandira Priyanga of the AINRC were administered the oath of office and official secrecy by Lt Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan at a simple function held outside the gates of Raj Nivas on Sunday.
Chief Minister N Rangasamy, Speaker Embalam R Selvam, Chief Secretary Ashwani Kumar, DGP Ranveer Singh among others were present on the occasion.
MLAs of AINRC, BJP, independent MLAs as well as opposition Congress MLA Ramesh Parambath from Mahe were present on the occasion.
Tamilnadu BJP President L Murugan and Puducherrunit chief V Saminathan were also present.
The ministry is a combination of experienced and debutants. For Namassivayam it is his fourth stint while Lakshminararayanan and Djeacoumar are entering ministerial responsibilities for the second and third time respectively. Chandira Priyanga, who elected from Nedungadu (SC) constituency of Karaikal region and Saravanan Kumar elected from Ossudu (SC) have become ministers for the first time.
Namassivayam, the former PWD minister in the Congress government led by V Narayanasamy, shifted to BJP just before the elections. He also moved from Villianur constituency and won the election from Mannadipet. Namassivayam is likely to be the Home Minister in the NDA government.
Lakshminarayanan, the five-time MLA and former Education, Revenue and Tourism minister (2001 -2005) also switched over to AINRC from Congress just before the elections. An advocate, he had been the Parliamentary Secretary to CM in the previous Congress-DMK government.
Theni C Jayakumar, who was earlier Local Administration minister in the DMK-TMC government from 1996-1999 and again briefly for six months in the Congress government led by P Shanmugham. He had been part of AINRC since Rangasamy floated the party in 2011.
Chandira Priyanga becomes the second woman minister in the UT, 41 years after Renuka Appadurai of INC(I) in 1980 when the DMK-Congress government under D Ramachandran was in office.
Chandira Priyanga is the daughter of M Chandirakasu, who was a minister in the earlier AINRC government of Rangasamy in 2011. Chandira Priyanga represents the outlying region of Karaikal. She is the first scheduled caste woman to become a minister in Puducherry.