Puducherry lieutenant governor Tamilisai Soundararajan on Sunday allocated portfolios in the Union territory’s first National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, according to news agency ANI. The portfolio allocation came two weeks after five MLAs of the ruling All India NR Congress (AINRC) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were sworn in as ministers after several weeks of delay.
All other ministers have been handed six ministries each. A Namassivayam of the BJP has been made the home minister, with additional charge of the electricity, industries and commerce, education, sports and youth affairs, and sainik welfare departments. Sai Sarvanan Kumar, also from the BJP, has been allocated civil supplies and consumer affairs, and will hold additional charge of district rural development agency (DRDA), community development, urban basic services, fire services and minority affairs ministries.
Meanwhile, K Lakshminarayanan of the AINRC is now the public works minister of Puducherry. Other departments allocated to Lakshminarayanan are tourism and civil aviation, fisheries, law, information technology, and stationary and printing. C Dijeacoumar, also from the chief minister’s party, has been made in-charge of agriculture, holding additional charge of animal husbandry and welfare, forest and wildlife, social welfare, backward class welfare, and women and child development.
AINRC leader Chandira Priyanga, the Union territory’s first woman minister in nearly four decades is now its transport minister. Priyanga will also hold the ministries of Adi Dravidar welfare, housing, labour and employment, art and culture, and economics and statistics.
The AINRC-BJP combine was, on May 2, declared victorious in the single-phase Puducherry assembly elections which were held on April 6. Rangasamy was sworn in as the chief minister on May 7 but the cabinet formation was delayed due to several reasons, including Rangasamy’s hospitalisation due to Covid-19.
