Puducherry Chief Minister N. Rangasamy will be in charge of 12 subjects, including the Confidential and Cabinet Department, Revenue and Excise, Local Administration and Health, while 30 others have been allocated among the five Ministers in the first NDA Cabinet of the Union Territory.
Besides the Home portfolio that was assigned to the BJP during the negotiations with the AINRC, the national party’s floor leader, A. Namassivayam, has been allotted Electricity, Industries and Commerce, Education (including Collegiate Education), Sports and Youth Affairs and Sainik Welfare.
AINRC Minister K. Lakshminarayanan got Public Works, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Law, Fisheries and Information Technology, while C. Djeacoumar has been allocated Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Forests, Social Welfare, Backward Classes Welfare and Women and Child Development.
The debutant Chandira Priyanga of the AINRC, the first woman in the Cabinet in four decades, has been allotted Transport, Housing, Labour and Employment, Adi Dravidar Welfare, Art and Culture and Economics and Statistics. A.K. Sai Saravanan Kumar of the BJP, another debutant, gets Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, Minority Affairs, DRDA, Urban Basic Services, Fire Services and Community Development. The Chief Minister’s portfolios include Port, Wakf Board, Hindu Religious Institutions, Town and Country Planning, General Administration, Information and Publicity and other subjects not allocated to his Council of Ministers.
In the morning, Mr. Rangasamy called on Lt. Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan at the Raj Nivas and handed over the list of subjects. Following the Lt. Governor’s approval, Chief Secretary Ashwani Kumar issued a gazette notification ratifying the allocation of subjects.
The Cabinet formation and the allocation of portfolios were plagued by serious differences over power-sharing between and within the principal allies, AINRC and BJP, the choice of Ministers, and later the nitty-gritty of portfolio allocation.
In between, the hospitalisation of Mr. Rangasamy for COVID-19 treatment in the second week of May threw another wrench into the efforts. The Council of Ministers was sworn in on June 27, over 50 days after the NDA was voted to power in the April 6 Assembly election.
Since then, the persisting differences had further delayed the formation of a functioning government.
On Saturday, the Lt. Governor, while emphasising that she wished to stay away from politics, appealed to the Chief Minister to create an environment for the Cabinet to function in the Union Territory.
Published - July 12, 2021 01:21 am IST
