V Narayanasamy sworn in as Puducherry Chief Minister

Senior Congress leader and former Union minister V Narayanasamy was on Monday sworn in as the tenth chief minister of Puducherry.

Lt Governor Kiran Bedi administered the oath of office and secrecy to Narayanasamy and five other ministers -- A Namassivayam, Malladi Krishna Rao, M O H F Shah Jahan, M Kandasamy and R Kamalakannan -- at 'Gandhi Thidal' near the sea shore in Puducherry.

While Rao, hailing from Yanam, an enclave of Puducherry in Andhra Pradesh, took the oath in Telugu, others took it in Tamil.

All of them are former ministers of the Union Territory.

Earlier, Puducherry Chief Secretary Manoj Parida had read out the warrant of appointment of Narayanasamy as the chief minister of Puducherry issued by President Pranab Mukherjee.

All India Congress Committee General Secretary Mukul Wasnik, Secretary Chinna Reddy, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader K Stalin and Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president E V K S Ilangovan were among those present during the ceremony.

Narayanasamy was elected leader of the 15-member Congress Legislature party on May 28. The party also has support of the two-member DMK in the 30-member assembly.

The Congress leader had called on Bedi at Raj Nivas on May 30 and staked claim to form the ministry.

He had also presented to Bedi letters of the Congress legislators and those from the DMK, expressing support for his leadership.

Narayanasamy, who had served as minister of state in the prime minister's office in the second United Progressive Alliance government after serving as MoS Parliamentary Affairs in UPA-I, did not contest the May 16 assembly polls and will now have to seek election to the legislature in a bypoll.

A law graduate, Narayanasamy practiced law for more than ten years since 1973 and jumped into active politics in 1985.

The 69-year-old was elected for the first time to Rajya Sabha and retained the seat in 1991. However, he was defeated in the contest for the RS seat in 1997 by the DMK and regained the seat in 2003.

As the Pradesh Congress Committee president in 2007, he proved his organisational capability by constituting committees at the booth and block levels.

There was stiff competition between Narayanasamy and PCC president A Namassivayam, who was elected for a second consecutive term, for the post of chief minister, but the former emerged the unanimous choice at the Congress Legislature Party meeting.

Congress had secured 15 seats of the 21 seats it contested while its ally the DMK won two in the assembly polls, ending the five-year rule of the All India N.R. Congress led by N Rangasamy.

Earlier, paying homage to former Chief Minister and veteran Congress leader V Venkatasubba Reddiar on the occasion of his 34th death anniversary, Narayanasamy said his government intended to ensure an "honest, fair and flawless" administration.

There would be no room for corruption in the administration, he said.

Stressing that the government has many important tasks to achieve, he said the law and order situation, jobs for youth, a congenial environment for the business community and welfare of fishermen and downtrodden would be taken care of by the administration.

Asserting that "cordial relations would be maintained with new Lt Governor Kiran Bedi and also with all sections avoiding friction", he said the Centre now has a non-Congress dispensation and "it would be my government's responsibility to persuade the Centre for sanction of adequate funds for welfare and development-centric projects in the Union Territory".

He blamed the previous AINRC government for "ignoring" the welfare of the people and failing to take up issues of Puducherry with the Centre.

Narayanasamy said the cooperation of partymen and legislators was necessary to act as a bridge between the people and government and corruption would not be brooked at any level and those indulging in corrupt practices would not be allowed to go scot-free.

He recalled the steadfast principles followed by Reddiar, who was the second chief minister of Puducherry.

Image: Puducherry Lt Governor Kiran Bedi with V Narayanasamy. Photograph: Kiran Bedi/Twitter