Puducherry: BJP's A Namassivayam was on Sunday allotted the Home portfolio in the AINRC-led NDA government in Puducherry, with the excercise being carried out two months after the bloc won the polls and the cabinet members other than Chief Minister N Rangasamy were sworn-in on June 27. Rangasamy was sworn in on May 7 after the NDA won the April 6 polls in this union territory. However, the other cabinet members, five of them, took oath on June 27. In UT's history, various chief ministers have held the Home portfolio except on one or two occasions and then CM V Narayanasamy helmed the department in the previous Congress government, which fell in February this year due to lack of a majority.
In its first representation in any cabinet in Puducherry, 'Home' was allotted to BJP's Namassivayam while CM Rangasamy would hold a number of portfolios, including Revenue, General Administration, Health and Family Welfare and Hindu Religious Institutions. Hours after the chief minister submitted the list of portfolios to Lt Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan on Sunday morning, a Gazette notification of the Confidential and Cabinet Department said she "is pleased to allocate to the Ministers the business of the Government in consultation with the Chief Minister...."
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Besides Home, Namassivayam will handle Electricity, Industries and Commerce, Education, including Collegiate Education, Sports and Youth Affairs and Sainik Welfare. AINRC's K Lakshminarayanan has been given Public Works Department, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Fisheries and Fishermen Welfare, Law and Information Technology. C Djeacoumar is Agriculture Minister and will also be
handling, among others, Animal Husbandry and Animal Welfare, Forests and Wild Life. Chandira Priyanga (AINRC), the first woman to be inducted in a cabinet in the UT in the last 40 years, is Transport Minister with additional responsibilities of Adi Dravidar Welfare, Housing and Labour and Employment, Art and Culture and Economics and Statistics.
A K Sai J Saravanan Kumar has been given Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, Consumer Welfare, Community Development, Urban Basic Services, Fire Services and Minority Affairs. While Lakshminarayanan, Djeacoumar and Priyanga are AINRC members in the ministry, the others---Namassivayam and Saravanan Kumar belong to the BJP.
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PTI
