By IANS,
Chennai : Embattled Puducherry Chief Minister N. Rangasamy Thursday submitted his resignation to Lt. Gov. Govind Singh Gujar. V. Vaidthilingam, minister for industries and power, is to be the new chief minister.
Within hours of Rangasamy submitting his resignation, the Congress legislature party of Puducherry elected V. Vaidthilingam to be the new chief minister of the union territory.
Rangasamy resigned on the directions of the Congress high command. In Monday’s legislature party meeting, Rangasamy failed to get sufficient support and was asked to step down.
Asked for his reactions, Vaidthilingam told IANS on phone from Puducherry: “I don’t want to comment on anything now. Let there be an official announcement.” But he said he was happy to have been elected.
Earlier this week, a majority of legislators of the ruling Congress had empowered party president Sonia Gandhi to take a decision on the demand to remove Rangasamy.
A majority of the 11 Congress legislators had demanded the removal of Rangasamy.