Puducherry' CM, ministers take oath in the name of God

Puducherry: The new congress government led by former union minister V Narayanasamy assumed office in a grand swearing-in ceremony held at the Gandhi Thidal on the beach road here on Monday. Lt Governor Kiran Bedi administered the oath of office and secrecy to Chief Minister V Narayanasamy and five other ministers - A Namassivayam, Malladi Krishna Rao, M O H F Shah Jahan, M Kandasamy and R Kamalakannan. All of them took the oath in the name of God.

The Congress government in Puducherry on Monday announced various welfare schemes for different sections of society hours after it assumed office.
After his first cabinet meeting, Chief Minister, V. Narayanasamy, said the government has decided to increase free rice given to family card holders from 10 kg to 20 kg. This will benefit 3.35 lakh families.

“The government has decided to provide 50 per cent subsidy on electricity charges to domestic consumers for usage of less than 100 units per month. Crop insurance will be provided to all farmers and the government will bear the entire premium,” he said.

The annual income limit for getting financial grant from Puducherry Medical Relief Society has been raised from '75,000 to '1.5 lakh and spot exemption being given in sales tax towards diesel purchase by fishermen has also been hiked.

A total of 15.73 per cent of total budget will be earmarked for Adi-Dravidar welfare. The government is also proposing to promote Puducherry as a smart city with  complete support from French government.

“The new government is dedicated to the development of the Union Territory,  creating new job opportunities, promoting tourism and ensuring safety of women”, he said.

Later in the day, the Chief Minister and his cabinet colleagues called on the Lt. Governor Kiran Bedi at Raj Nivas. Talking to reporters after the meeting, Narayanasamy said the Governor and the new cabinet will work together for development of the Union Territory.  

“Prosperous Puducherry is the vision of the Governor as well as the new government. We will work together to achieve the goal”  he said
The portfolios of ministers and date of Assembly session will be announced in two days, the Chief Minister said.

Former Union minister V. Narayanasamy was on Monday sworn in as Chief Minister of Puducherry at ‘Gandhi Thidal’ on beach road here. This is the first cabinet in the Union Territory to be sworn in outside Raj Bhavan to enable participation of party workers and the public in the ceremony.  

Congress legislator K. Lakshminarayanan, who was a strong contender for ministerial berth, was conspicuous by his absence. The Congress-DMK front winning 17 seats in the election had a comfortable majority to form the government. Internal squabbles in Congress delayed  formation of the ministry.
Though Narayanasamy was elected leader of Congress legislature party on May 28, the fight for ministerial berths continued.

After staking claim to form the government by meeting Kiran Bedi on May 30, Narayanasamy rushed to New Delhi to hold discussions with the party high command. The problems were sorted out with the intervention of party president Sonia Gandhi.

The 69-year-old Narayanasamy had served as minister of state in Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and minister of state for Parliamentary affairs in  two UPA governments.

A law graduate, he was actively part of political activities right from his school days. Apart from working as Pradesh Congress Committee president for a small term, he was mostly engaged in national politics than state politics. Narayanasamy who didn’t contest the election should get elected to the Assembly within six months.