Puducherry Assembly Elections 2016: Know your leader Profile- N Rangasamy

N Rangasamy is Chief Minister of the Union Territory of Puducherry. He has been elected from Thattanchavady assembly constituency.

Let us look at the brief profile of N Rangasamy, the two time Chief Minister of Puducherry.

Date and place of birth: N Rangasamy was born on the 4th of August 1950 in Puducherry.

Family history: He was born to Nadesan Krishnasamy and Panchali. He got his BCom degree in Tagore Arts College and BL in Dr. Ambedkar Law College, Puducherry.

Political career: N Rangasamy contested the first election at Thattanchavady constituency in 1990. He won the 1991 assembly election with a huge margin of votes and was appointed as Minister of Agriculture and Co-operation.

He again won the election from the same constituency in 1996. He was made the Minister of Tourism, Education, Public Works, Civil Aviation and Art and Culture during the year 2000.
During the 2001 Assembly Election he again won from Thattanchavady constituency and worked as Minister for Public Works, Agriculture and Forest. In the year 2001 itself he became the Chief Minister of Puducherry on the 27th October.

Performance as Puducherry Chief Minister: During his first tenure as Chief Minister N Rangasamy gave Puducherry various path breaking schemes for socio-economic development like:

1. 'Perunthalaivar Kamarajar' Housing Scheme for making the UT of Puducherry a "Hut-free Zone",
   
2. Distribution of free text books, note books, rain coats, cycles, umbrella,
   
3. 'Shri Rajiv Gandhi Breakfast Scheme' under which hot milk and biscuits are provided to students of Government and Government aided schools apart from mid-day meal scheme (this is the welfare scheme which made him exceedingly popular among masses),
   
4. Free LPG connection with free stove and cylinder to BPL families,
   
5. 50 % concession on stamp duty for immovable property registered in the name of Women, and
   
6. full reimbursement of tuition fees for students selected through CENTAC for pursuing Medicine and Engineering courses.

He is considered instrumental in developing infrastructure for Puducherry that is at par with metro cities. His welfare scheme for distribution of wheat through public distribution system for poor diabetics who are above 60 years of age has earned him lot of support from the citizens.

Resigned from Congress: While holding the post of Chief Minister coming belonging to Congress Party, N Rangasamy resigned on the 28th August 2008. Congress had asked him to resign due to internal politics.

Form new party and win election: N Rangasamy after resigning from Congress floated a new political party named All India NR Congress (AINRC) on the 7th of February 2011 and within 3 months contested Legislative Assembly Elections and formed the government in the union territory.

On April 21st 2015 MLA M V Ramachandra quit AINRC along with 20 lawyers leaving the party with just 14 members. However, AINRC survived the scare as INC MLA Malladi Krishna Rao joined AINRC, Ramachandra quit AINRC alleging that his efforts were not recognised and that Rangasamy had failed to fulfil the aspirations of the people of Peravai. Ramachandra was also unhappy with Rao's closeness to Rangasamy.

Association with National Democratic Alliance (NDA): Currently N Rangasamy's party AINRC is part of NDA. Simplicity, Fairness and Transparency is the official motto of AINRC.
AINRC fielded former Puducherry Assembly Speaker, R Radhakrishnan for the only Lok Sabha seat from the UT. R Radhakrishnan won the seat.

Mr. Honest image of N Rangasamy: Mr. Rangasamy has always maintained the image of an honest politician all through his career. He is the only CM in India who moves around without any security cove. He still rides his motorcycle in his constituency and goes to meet his constituents. It is said that any person irrespective of caste, creed and religion can come and meet him at his house during the mornings.

He is credited with ensuring that Puducherry was voted as the first choice to live in India among all states and UTs. The UT scored first rank when evaluated for literacy, women empowerment, infrastructure, roads, water, etc.