The government has sought sanction to appoint senior legislator K. Lakshminarayanan as pro-tem Speaker of the Puducherry Legislative Assembly.
“Chief Minister has sought sanction from the Lt Governor to appoint Mr. Lakshminarayanan as pro-tem Speaker for swearing-in of the newly elected MLAs and conduct the proceedings to elect the Speaker. The file was forwarded a few days ago. The Assembly Secretariat is yet to get any communication from Raj Nivas regarding the appointment of pro-tem Speaker,” a source in AINRC told The Hindu.
Also read: A difficult union: Editorial on All India NR Congress-BJP alliance in Puducherry
The party, according to the source, was aiming to complete the swearing-in and cabinet formation next week after the discharge of Chief Minister N. Rangasamy , who is recovering from COVID at a hospital in Chennai.
Mr. Rangasamy is likely to be discharged on Saturday, the source added.
Even in the absence of Chief Minister, informal talks continued between AINRC and BJP leadership to iron out differences on cabinet formation.
Centre's action criticised
Meanwhile, former AINRC leader Nehru alias Kuppusamy, who successfully contested as an Independent in the recent Assembly elections, criticised the Centre for showing haste in the appointment of nominated legislators.
The Centre at this moment should be concentrating on containing the spread of COVID-19 in UT by supplying essential medical emergencies, he said.
He also urged the AINRC leadership to get down to COVID-19 containment works immediately. People have great expectation from the newly elected government, he said adding differences on cabinet expansion should be kept aside for COVID-19 work.
