V. Vaithilingam

V. Vaithilingam (born 5 October 1950) is an Indian politician who currently represents Puducherry in the Lok Sabha. He is former Chief Minister of Puducherry. He held the position as 11th Chief Minister of Puducherry from 1991 to 1996 and 14th Chief Minister of Puducherry again from 2008 to 2011. He is a senior legislator serving eight consecutive terms.

V.Vaithilingam
V. Vaithilingam at 27th Flower, Vegetable and Fruit Show, Pondicherry
MP of Lok Sabha for Puducherry
Incumbent
Assumed office 2019
Constituency	Puducherry
Chief Minister of Puducherry
In office 4 July 1991 – 13 May 1996
Preceded by	M. D. R. Ramachandran
Succeeded by	R. V. Janakiraman
In office 4 September 2008 – 15 May 2011
Preceded by	N. Rangaswamy
Succeeded by	N. Rangaswamy
Speaker of Puducherry Legislative Assembly
In office 12 June 2016 – April 2019
Deputy	V.P. Sivakolundu
Constituency	Kamaraj Nagar
Personal details
Born	Vaithilingam 5 October 1950 Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu
Political party	Congress
Spouse(s)	Sasikala
Children	1 son and 1 daughter
Residence	Pondicherry, Puducherry
Alma mater	Loyola College, Chennai

He is known for the family politics in Puducherry. His paternal grandfather late Vaithilingam Reddiar was the Mayor of Nettappakkam commune during the French rule in Puducherry and his father V. Venkatasubha Reddiar was also a Chief Minister of Puducherry. He headed the Puducherry Government from 1991 to 1996 and the Congress Legislative party from 1991 to 2000. His priorities as Chief Minister was to minimize the budget deficit, increase private sector participation in public transport, improve health care system. He became Chief Minister at the age of 40.

Early life

He was born at Cuddalore and was raised in his native home Madukarai, Puducherry. After completing his schooling, he went to Loyola College in Chennai and later went to Madukkarai to take care of his family farms. In 1969, Vaithilingam married Miss Sasikala. From an early age, he developed exceptional leadership skills, an example of which was his role as the Chairman of Land Development Bank of Puducherry State.

Political career

In 1980, at the age of 30, he ran for the Legislative Assembly and lost with a narrow margin of 90 odd votes. In 1985, Vaithilingam won to become Public Works and Power Minister. He became familiar among the Congress Party members. From 1991 to 1996 he served as the Chief minister of Pondicherry, under his administration, Pondicherry saw a drastic growth in the industrial and education sector. He advocated smaller government and greater participation of private sector. Vaithilingam also benefited from the management of the economy and the liberalization policies followed by Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao. In 1996 elections Indian National Congress became the single largest party, but their alliance lost the elections and he was appointed as the leader of opposition till 1999. In 2001 he won from Nettappakkam constituency but could not able to become chief minister because Vaithilingam was charged with an attempt to corrupt a fellow legislature and lost his congress leadership and N. rangaswamy was chosen as chief minister he served as an M.L.A in his cabinet till 2006. In 2006 he served as the minister of agriculture and industries till 2008. He was made the Chief minister in 2008 and he served till 2011. He became leader of opposition in 2011 election and he became speaker of the house in 2016 and resigned on 2019 after becoming member of parliament, Puducherry

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections V. Vaithilingam was chosen to represent Indian National Congress party and he defeated All India N.R. Congress candidate Dr. Narayanasamy Kesavan (see Puducherry (Lok Sabha constituency)).

Electoral history

• Member of the Legislative Assembly

Year	Post	Constituency	Party	Opponent	Opposition Party	Result
1980	M.L.A	Nettapakkam	INC	R. Subaraya Gounder	JNP	Lost
1985	M.L.A	Nettapakkam	INC	P. Ramamurthy	DMK	Won
1990	M.L.A	Nettapakkam	INC	N. Devadass	DMK	Won
1991	M.L.A	Nettapakkam	INC	R. Subraya Gounder	DMK	Won
1996	M.L.A	Nettapakkam	INC	V. Muthunarayanan	Independent	Won
2001	M.L.A	Nettapakkam	INC	K. Dhanraju	PMK	Won
2006	M.L.A	Nettapakkam	INC	V. Muthunarayanan	PMC	Won
2011	M.L.A	Kamaraj Nagar	INC	Nara Kalainathan	CPI	Won
2016	M.L.A	Kamaraj Nagar	INC	P. Ganesan	AIADMK	Won

• Member of Parliament

Year	Post	Constituency	Party	Opponent	Opposition Party	Result
2019	M.P	Puducherry	INC	Dr. Narayanasamy Kesavan	All India N.R. Congress	Won

Comeback

Vaithilingam was charged with an attempt to corrupt a fellow legislature.[1] Although he was acquitted on all charges, Vaithilingam lost his leadership of the Congress Legislative party in 2000. He was for the sixth time elected to the legislature and served as Industries and Power Minister in N.Rangaswamy cabinet in 2006.[2]

Positions Held

References

1. "The Defection Bazaar", (Outlook India), 2 April 1997
2. "Vaithilingam sworn in as Puducherry Chief Minister", IST, PTI (Times of India), 4 September 2008.

External links