The governor of Telangana, Tamilisai Soundararajan, was sworn in as deputy governor of Puducherry on Thursday, days after Kiran Bedi was removed from office. Soundararajan, former president of the Tamil Nadu BJP, had received an additional post from Puducherry by President Ram Nath Kovind.
Soundararajan was sworn in by the Chief Justice of Madras, Sanjib Banerjee, in the Raj Nivas. He took the oath in Tamil. Among those who attended the ceremony were the Speaker of the Assembly, VP Sivakolundhu, the Chief Minister V Narayanasamy and the leader of the opposition N Rangasamy.
Soundararajan is the fifth woman to serve as Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry, after Chandrawati, Rajendra Kumari Bajpai, Rajani Rai and Kiran Bedi.
I was proud and happy to take the oath of office in my mother tongue: Tamil as the # Lieutenant governor of #Puduqueria to #RajNivas today In the presence of the Honorable Chief Justice of the Madras Supreme Court, Honorable CM, Former CM, Cabinet colleagues, legislators, senior officials and the public. pic.twitter.com/lLXPlFgBkL
– Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan (@DrTamilisaiGuv) February 18, 2021
Bedi, with whom the Narayanasamy government has had a long battle, was removed months before the Puducherry elections.
Narayanasamy said that Bedi’s removal was “a long-pending demand from the people of Puducherry.” Bedi, he said, “was behaving autocratically, violating the rules of business, trying to run a parallel government, (and) issuing independent orders against the wishes of the elected government …”
The incident occurred on the same day that the Narayanasamy government appeared to have lost majority after the resignation of two MLA in two days.
(With PTI inputs)
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She is a freelance blogger, writer, and speaker, and writes for various entertainment magazines.