Rangasamy sworn in as Puducherry Chief Minister, BJP to be part of cabinet
Puducherry: AINRC leader N Rangasamy was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Puducherry at a brief ceremony held at the Raj Nivas here on Friday and will lead a coalition government of BJP members in his cabinet.
While Karnataka is the lone southern state with the BJP in the ruling saddle, its induction in the UT cabinet allows the saffron party expand its footprint, vis-a-vis power in the region.
Incidentally, it fared well in neighbouring Tamil Nadu, where it won four assembly seats in the Dravidian heartland in the April 6 polls.
Union Minister of State for Home and BJP leader Kishan Reddy, who attended the swearing-in ceremony today, told reporters that BJP and AINRC would have three ministers each and they would be sworn in over the next few days.
BJP's A Namassivayam, who was elected unanimously as the leader of the BJP legislature wing, is tipped to be deputy chief minister.
On Friday afternoon, Lt Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan administered the oath of office and secrecy to Rangasamy, giving him his fourth stint in office of CM.
Rangasamy, the only legislator to be sworn-in today, took the oath in Tamil and in the name of God.
The swearing in of the other ministers belonging to the AINRC and BJP would be held in the next few days, AINRC party sources said.
Of the three BJP members in the cabinet, one would be deputy CM.
A BJP source told PTI that Namassivayam would be Rangasamy's deputy, in the first such instance of the UT having a deputy CM.
Six Ministers are likely to be sworn in in the next couple of days and this would ultimately bring the strength of the Puducherry Ministry to seven, including Rangasamy.
AINRC won 10 seats and the BJP six in the 30-member house, giving them the simple majority to form government.
There are six independents elected to the House, who are by and large supporters of Rangasamy. The DMK emerged victorious from six segments of the 13 seats it contested.
The Congress fared poorly by annexing only two out of the 14 seats it contested. Earlier, Chief Secretary Ashwin Kumar read out the Presidential notification appointing Rangasamy as the Chief Minister.
The ceremony, which began at 1.20 PM, lasted five minutes.
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Strict security measures in place in Mumbai for Messi's events at 2 venues Dec 14, say police
Mumbai (PTI): In view of Argentine superstar footballer Lionel Messi's visit to Mumbai on Sunday, the city police are implementing stringent security measures, like not allowing water bottles, metals, coins inside the stadiums and setting up watchtowers to keep an eye on the crowd, officials said.
The police also said taking extra care to avoid any stampede-like situation and to prevent recurrence of the chaotic situation that unfolded in Kolkata during Messi's visit on Saturday as thousands of fans protested inside the Salt Lake stadium here after failing to catch a clear glimpse of the football icon despite paying hefty sums for tickets.
Messi is expected to be present at the Cricket Club of India (Brabourne Stadium) in Mumbai on Sunday for a Padel GOAT Cup event followed by attending a celebrity football match. He is expected to proceed to the Wankhede Stadium for the GOAT India Tour main event around 5 pm.
"In view of Lionel Messi's visit to Mumbai, the police are geared up and have put in place a high level of security arrangements in and around the stadiums located in south Mumbai. Considering the chaos that prevailed in Kolkata and the security breach, we have deployed World Cup-level security arrangements at Brabourne and Wankhede stadiums," an official said.
Expecting heavy crowd near the stadiums during Messi's visit, the city police force has deployed more than 2,000 of its personnel near and around both the venues, he said.
As the Mumbai police have the experience of security 'bandobast' during the victory parade of ICC World Cup-winning Indian team and World Cup final match at the Wankhede Stadium, in which over one lakh cricket fans had gathered, we are prepared to handle a large crowd of fans, he said.
"We are trying to avoid the errors that occurred in the past," the official said.
There is no place to sneak inside the stadiums in Mumbai like the Kolkata stadium, according to him.
The police are also asking the organisers to provide all the required facilities to the fans inside the stadium, so that there will be no chaos, he said, adding the spectators have purchased tickets in the range of Rs 5,000 to 25,000. After paying so much of amount, any spectator expects proper services, while enjoying the event, he said.
The police are expecting 33,000 spectators at the Wankhede Stadium and over 4,000 at Brabourne Stadium. Besides this, more than 30,000 people are expected outside and around the stadiums just to have a glimpse of the football sensation, he said.
The organisers responsible for Messi's India visit recently came to Mumbai to discuss security arrangements. During the meeting, the Mumbai police asked them not to take the event lightly, according to the official.
After those requirements were fulfilled, the final security deployment was chalked out, he said.
Police has the standard procedure of the security arrangements inside the Wankhede Stadium, where people are barred from taking water bottles, metals objects, coins. Police are setting up watch towers near the stadiums and there will be traffic diversions, so that there is maximum space available to stand, according to the official.
Police are also appealing to the spectators to use public transport service for commuting and avoid personal vehicles to reach south Mumbai.
To avoid any stampede-like situation, police are also taking precautionary measures and will stop the fans some distance ahead of the stadium and public announcement systems will be used to guide the crowd. Barricades will be placed at various places to manage the crowd.
In case the crowd swells up beyond expectation, the police will divert people to other grounds and preparations in this regard underway, he said.
Additional police force has been deployed in south Mumbai to tackle any kind of situation, he said.
