Puducherry: Former Union minister V. Narayanasamy will be sworn in as Chief Minister of Puducherry on Monday (June 6) at a glittering ceremony on Beach Road in this tiny Union Territory.
PCC chief A. Namasivayam and four others will be sworn in as ministers, while former Chief Minister V. Vaithilingam is expected to be Speaker of the Assembly.
Narayanasamy told mediapersons on Saturday he would be sworn-in as Chief Minister by Lt Governor, Kiran Bedi, at noon on Monday. He has invited DMK chief M. Karunanidhi to attend the swearing-in ceremony.
After detailed discussions with Congress high command, Narayanasamy is understood to have submitted the list of ministers to Bedi. Sources said Namasivayam, former ministers M. Kandasamy, M.O.H.F. Shahjahan, R. Kamalakannan and Malladi Krishna Rao will get cabinet berths again.
Vaithilingam, who was adamant on getting a cabinet berth, finally settled for Speaker’s post after Congress president Sonia Gandhi intervened and put an end to the deadlock.
Narayanasamy, along with Namasivayam and Vaithilingam, was in New Delhi holding hectic discussions with the central leadership including Sonia Gandhi and party vice president Rahul Gandhi on cabinet formation. Most ministerial hopefuls were also camping in New Delhi, further delaying the process of ministry formation.
Unhappy over non-inclusion of Vaithilingam and K. Lakshminarayanan in the cabinet, their supporters staged a demonstration. Supporters of Vaithilingam burnt effigies of Narayanasamy in his hometown Maducarai and put up road blocks, while supporters of Lakshminarayanan picketed PCC office and later staged a protest on Beach Road.
