The long suspense over the Chief Ministerial candidate ended on Saturday after the Congress MLAs elected former Union Minister of State V. Narayanasamy as the Congress Legislature Party leader and Chief Minister. In a dramatic turn, one of the main contenders for the top post, A. Namassivayam proposed the name of Mr. Narayanasamy and former Chief Minister V. Vaithilingam seconded his name.
Later addressing the media, central observer, Sheila Dikshit said, “This morning, we had a meeting individually with all the MLAs. Nearly all of them decided that Mr. Narayanasamy should be made the Chief Minister of Puducherry. The meeting was very nice and everybody is unanimous on the decision.”
“The decision of meeting was communicated to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi. On that basis, Mr. Narayanasamy was chosen to become the Chief Minister of Puducherry by Congress MLAs,” said Mr. Namassivayam.
Ms. Dikshit also added that Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul also congratulated him over phone. Mr. Narayanasamy thanked Mr. Namassivayam, Mr. Vaithilingam and other MLAs who elected him as the CLP leader.
He said, after holding consultations with the MLAs, he would decide the date when he would stake claim to form the government.
Asked whether it would be a single party government or coalition, Mr. Narayanasamy said the party high command would decide on that.
