N Rangasamy sworn in as Puducherry Chief Minister for record fourth time; PM Modi congratulates him

N Rangasamy had been at the held of the UT three times before – as a Congress CM between 2001 to 2006 and 2006 to 2008 and as AINRC chief from 2011 to 2016.

AINRC chief N Rangasamy was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Puducherry for the record fourth time today. Lt Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan administered the oath of office and secrecy to Rangasamy. It may be recalled that the AINRC has contest polls in alliance with the BJP and they have secured 16 seats out of 30 that went to polls. The Puducherry assembly has a unique arrangement where 30 members are elected by the people and three are nominated by the Centre. The majority mark is 17. With three nominated members, the NDA’s tally will be 19, two more than the majority mark. PM Narendra Modi has congratulated him for taking oath as Puducherry chief minister and extended his best wishes to the AINRC leader.

N Rangasamy had been at the held of the UT three times before – as a Congress CM between 2001 to 2006 and 2006 to 2008 when he was replaced by the party. He later formed his party AINRC and contested the 2011 polls alone successfully and went on to become a CM for the third time.

However, the seventy-one-year-old leader is heading a coalition cabinet for the first time. N Rangasamy is known to be a simple, soft-spoken and accessible leader. He is famous for driving around in a two-wheeler without security.

Rangasamy is a graduate in Commerce and also in legal studies. He did not practise as he swung into active politics. Rangasamy had started his political journey unsuccessful when he lost his first Assembly poll from Thattanchavady in 1990. He was defeated by his arch-rival V Pethaperumal of the Janata Dal. He emerged as a giant-slayer the very next year when he defeated Pethaperumal from the same segment and was rewarded with the Agriculture portfolio in the Congress government. He then went on to win all successive elections he contested. In 1996, he won on a Congress ticket. In 2001, when the Congress won again, he became the CM and continued to helm Puducherry after leading the party to a successive win five years later in 2006 as well. However, things took a different turn with Narayanasamy intensifying his criticism of Rangasamy on several counts and the AICC replaced him as CM with V Vaithilingam in August 2008.

While the AINRC won the 2011 polls, it lost to secure a majority in 2016 and Rangasamy became the opposition leader. This year, he contested from two constituencies – Yanam and Thattanchavady. While he lost from Yanam but managed to win from Thattanchavady. Thattanchavady has been his pocket borough all along and did not disappoint him during the April 6 polls as well.