Puducherry: General Secretary of the All India Congress Committee and former Union minister in the UPA regime V Narayanasamy was today unanimously elected as the leader of the Congress Legislature Party, paving way for his appointment as the Chief Minister of Puducherry.
The announcement regarding Narayanasamy’s appointment was made by party leaders Sheila Dikshit and Mukul Wasnik. The duo had been appointed as observers by the party following deliberations with the newly elected MLAs.
The Congress-DMK alliance had won 17 of the 30 seats in the recent assembly elections. The results were declared on May 19.
Narayanasamy, who represents Puducherry as an MP, did not contest elections this time around. His sudden claim to the post of the CM led to a delay in the formation of government in the UT.
Dikshit, the former CM of Delhi, said the decision was unanimously endorsed by all MLAs, including Pradesh Congress Committee president A. Namassivayam and seconded by former Chief Minister V. Vaithilingam.
Notably, both Namassivayam and Vaithilingam were said to be in fray for the chief ministerial post. This was made evident after supporters of Narayansamy’s opponents’ camps began raising slogans against the decision soon after it was announced.
They alleged that Narayanasamy was not in the race for CM as per his own admissions and had now worked behind the scenes to ensure that he was elected unopposed. A section of the protesters also threatened to immolate themselves demanding a rollback of the decision.
Meanwhile, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi congratulated Narayanasamy over the phone.
