N Rangasamy takes oath as Puducherry CM for 5th time

NEW DELHI: All India NR Congress (AINRC) leader N Rangasamy on Wednesday took oath as Puducherry chief minister for a fifth term, along with Malladi Krishna Rao of the AINRC and BJP leader A Namassivayam as ministers in the AINRC-led NDA government.Seventy-six-year-old N Rangasamy had earlier served as Puducherry CM from 2001 to 2006 and again from 2006 to 2008 as a Congress leader. Later after founding the All India NR Congress, he served as CM from 2011 to 2016 and headed the AINRC-BJP Alliance government from 2021 to 2026.In the recently held assembly elections, Rangasamy was elected from both the Thattanchavady and Mangalam constituencies. He won from the Thattanchavady constituency, defeating E Vinayagam of the Neyam Makkal Kazhagam by 4,441 votes, and by a margin of 7,050 votes from Mangalam constituency after defeating Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s S S Rangan .In the 30 member assembly, NDA has the support of 18 MLAs, two more than the majority mark. Although the Puducherry Assembly has 33 seats, three of its members are nominated by the Union government.Puducherry LG K Kailashnathan administered the oath while BJP National President Nitin Nabin also attended the ceremony.