Over a month after the Puducherry election results were announced, the state is finally set to have a cabinet with the swearing in ceremony being decided to be held on June 27. The official invitation for the ceremony to be held at the Raj Nivas in Puducherry, has hit social media. All India NR Congress (AINRC) founder N Rangasamy had sworn in as the Chief Minister on May 6, however, the cabinet ministers had not been selected yet.
On Wednesday, Chief Minister had sent the list of to be selected Cabinet members to Lieutenant Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan. The Governor had then sent it to the Union Home Ministry. According to reports, the six member cabinet will consist of four AINRC leaders including the Chief Minister and two from BJP. Out of the 33 member Puducherry Assembly, 16 seats are held by AINRC and BJP of the NDA. Three nominated legislators of the BJP also support the front.
The new ministers will be A Namassivayam, K Lakshminarayanan, C Djeacoumar, Chandira Priyanga and AK Sai J Saravanan Kumar, stated an order issued by the Puducherry government on June 25.
In the election held on April 6, the AINRC with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) had won in the Union Territory. The delay over the cabinet formation was followed by the BJP demanding that the party should be given the post of Deputy Chief Minister. However, consensus was reached with BJP given the post of Speaker. Likewise, BJP’s ‘Embalam’ R Selvam was sworn in as the Speaker on June 16.
Earlier reports had surfaced that BJP was trying to get the post of Chief Minister through back-door, considering three independent members announced their support for BJP, IANS had reported. With the support of three independents and with the three nominated legislators who are in BJP, the party could get a total of 12 seats, while AINRC on its own had only 10 seats.
As per the IANS report, BJP had initially demanded that three from the party be made minister, along with the post of Deputy Chief Minister and Speaker. However, later a consensus was reached with BJP giving two ministerial posts and the post of Speaker.