Puducherry: NR Congress Chief N Rangasamy sworn in as Chief Minister of Puducherry on Sunday. He along with other five MLAs took oath as Ministers including two BJP MLAs on Sunday. Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan administered the oath of office with new Ministers virtually. The total strength of the ministry will be six.

This is the first time BJP shared power in the Union Terrority Puducherry. One of two BJP leaders to join the cabinet is Namassivayayam, who had quit the Congress just before polls and the other is Sai J Saravanan Kumar. NR Congress MLAs K Lakshminarayanan, C Djeacoumar and Chandira Priyanga are taking oath. Chandira Priyanga will be the first woman minister of Puducherry in more than four decades.

The BJP forged an alliance with the NR Congress when the Congress government led by V Narayanasamy collapsed after a group of MLAs resigned and crossed over to the BJP. The strength of the political parties in the Puducherry Assembly is as follows:  Total seats 30, AINRC had won 10, BJP won six, DMK won six, Independents won six and Congress won two seats respectively.