V Narayanasamy to be new Puducherry Chief Minister

V Narayanansamy has been named the Congress’s pick to be the new Chief Minister of Puducherry. A heated contest had broken out within the party’s local unit over who will occupy the Chief Minister’s seat and this has delayed the government formation in the Union Territory.

Narayanasamy had served as the Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office in the second UPA government, after serving as MoS Parliamentary Affairs in the first UPA government. He did not contest the May 16 Assembly election, and will now have to seek election to the legislature in a bypoll.

The announcement of Narayanasamy’s election as the legislature party leader came after a meeting of the party’s newly-elected MLAs with senior Congress leaders Mukul Wasnik and Sheila Dikshit in Puducherry on Saturday.

The top contenders for the Chief Minister’s post had included Puducherry Pradesh Congress Committee president A Namassivayam and former chief minister V Vaithilingam . Former Welfare Minister M Candassamy had also made a bid for the job.

The wrangling for Puducherry’s top job had seen Narayanasamy and Namassivayam meet party chief Sonia Gandhi in Delhi.

 

SOURCE: PTI