Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundrarajan, who was
given additional charge of the Union Territory (UT) of Puducherry after incumbent Lieutenant-Governor Kiran Bedi's removal from the post, was sworn into office today, in a simple program held at the Raj Nivas.
Madras High Court Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee administered the oath of office to Soundrarajan, the fifth woman to take charge of the post, at about 9:00 am. She took the oath in Tamil.
Following this, the Governor received a guard of honour given by the police.
Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy, several ministers, Opposition leader and AINRC chief N Rangasamy, AIADMK leaders, and DMK leaders were among the officials who attended the swearing-in ceremony.
The Governor later took to her Twitter account to express her happiness on the occasion.
She wrote, "Felt proud and happy to take the Oath of Office in my mother-tongue, Tamil, as the Lieutenant-Governor of Puducherry at Raj Nivas today, in the presence of Hon'ble Chief Justice of Madras High Court, Hon'ble CM, ex-CM, cabinet colleagues, legislators, senior officials and public (sic)."
In a sudden end to outgoing Lieutenant-Governor Kiran Bedi's constant battles with the Narayanasamy regime, the former was removed from the post, yesterday. A Rashtrapati Bhavan communique on the matter said, "The President has directed that Dr Kiran Bedi shall cease to hold the office of the Lieutenant-Governor of Puducherry, and has directed Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan, Governor of Telangana, to discharge the functions of the Lieutenant-Governor of Puducherry, in addition to her own duties."
After being sworn in, Soundrarajan ordered a floor test for the Congress government in the UT. This was done so that the government could prove its majority in the Assembly. Reports say that the test will be conducted on February 22.