5 appointed as Chairmen of government bodies

PUDUCHERRY: Chief Minister N Rangasamy has rewarded six of his partymen with posts of chairman in government bodies. Five of these were appointed on Monday.V Bhalan, party general secretary has been appointed chairman of Pondicherry Textile Corporation, and S Baskarane, former municipal councillor, Chairman of Swadeshi and Bharathi Textile mills. G Mathi alias Venkatesan also a former municipal councillor as Chairman of Pondicherry Housing Board, G Suresh alias Raghu, Chairman of Perunthalaivar Kamaraj  Krishi Vigyan Kendra, and Govindraj the Chairman of Pondicherry Planning Authority. Last week Prashanth Kumar had been appointed  Chairman of Pondicherry Adi Dravidar Development Corporation (PADCO).This move not only rewards close followers of Rangasamy who stood by him when he went out of power, but is also seen as a move by the ruling AINRC to strengthen their political base  particularly in constituencies held by opposition MLAs.  G Mathi is from Kamaraj Nagar which is held by V Vaithilingam, leader of opposition and  G Suresh for Manavely, the constituency now being held by P Purushottaman of AIADMK, Prashanth Kumar for Nettapakkam (Reserved), the constituency held by L Periyasamy and Govindraj for Karaikal held by PNR Thirumurugan of Congress.  With recognition through a government position and by using the post, these four are expected to make themselves popular by functioning as de facto MLAs and undermine the sitting MLAs, feel political observers. In fact Rangasamy tried to appoint Bhalan, Mathi and Suresh as nominated  MLAs and had recommended their names for appointment, but could not get the approval from the Ministry of Home Affairs. Even the party accepts that the names of four  were  listed by them to contest the Assembly elections, but could not be fielded due to coalition compulsions. Mathi was selected for  Kamaraj Nagar seat but it went to CPI in the alliance, which they ultimately lost. Similarly Suresh could not be fielded for Manavely as the seat went to AIADMK. Prashant Kumar could not contest in Nettapakkam (SC) and Govindraj missed out in  Karaikal as all these seats went to AIADMK. While in  Manavely and Nettapakkam the AIADMK won, in Karaikal the Congress won defeating AIADMK.Not only that V Bhalan (60) who had a long political innings in Congress, TMC and now AINRC is all set to assume charge as chairman of Pondicherry Textile Corporation (PTC) and is tipped to be the contestant for the lone  Lok Sabha seat from Puducherry. Having been a textile mill worker both in Anglo French Textile mills under PTC and Swadeshi and Bharathi Mills and the president of National Textile union, he has been given the charge of the mill which is on the verge of closure. S Bascarane, who hails from Thengaithittu in Ariyankuppam constituency has remained with Rangasamy since the time he was facing revolt from his cabinet. He has been rewarded with the chairman post and in future could also contest