Rangasamy sworn in as Puducherry CM

Sixty-one-year old Rangasamy, chief of All India NR Congress, was administered oath of office by Lt Governor Iqbal Singh at the Raj Nivas in   Puducherry, making him the 18th chief minister of the tiny Union Territory.

No other minister was sworn in along with Rangasamy, who had had earlier headed Congress governments from 2001-06 and 2006-08 when he was unceremoniously removed by the party high command following a revolt by his cabinet colleagues.

Taking a sweet revenge on the Congress, Rangasamy, who broke ranks with the party a few months before the polls and floated his own party, which on its own bagged 15 seats. Its ally the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam won five seats to give a two-thirds majority to the combine in the 30-member assembly. The Congress could win only seven seats and its ally DMK two.

Independent MLA V M C Sivakumar, a DMK rebel, has extended his support to AINRC, enabling it command a simple majority of 16 in the assembly.