Tainted Puducherry Minister Sacked

PUDUCHERRY: Bowing to pressure from many quarters, chief minister N Rangasamy on Saturday sacked education minister P M L Kalyanasundaram, who was accused of using a proxy to write his Class 10 supplementary examination.

Rangasamy sent an official communication to lieutenant governor Iqbal Singh on Saturday evening recommending that Kalyanasundaram be dropped from the cabinet. A first-time MLA and minister, Kalyanasundaram, besides education, also held transport portfolio. But the ugly controversy triggered by charges of impersonation ended his extremely short ministerial tenure. The 34-year-old was sworn in minister in June after Rangasamy's NR Congress formed government with the support of an independent after the assembly elections.

The lieutenant governor is right now in Punjab. Singh's private secretary S Srinivasan told TOI that he had been briefed about the development. "We forwarded the recommendation of the chief minister to Union home ministry by fax after getting the approval from the lieutenant governor," he said.

Opposition parties, including the Congress and the AIADMK, have been demanding the removal of Kalyanasundaram after he was booked by the Tamil Nadu police for allegedly using a proxy for writing the Class 10 supplementary exams. Union minister V Narayanasamy had warned that the Centre would be forced to intervene and initiate action against the Rangasamy government if it failed to remove the minister from the cabinet. The AIADMK too had urged the Centre to dismiss the Rangasamy government for attempting to protect a minister facing criminal charges while the CPI staged a series of protests demanding that the government sack Kalyanasundaram.

Kalyanasundaram, a Class 10 dropout, claimed to have appeared for the science supplementary examination on September 29, held in a private school in Tindivanam, even while preparing for a degree course through the open university. However, allegations surfaced that the minister had used a proxy to write the exam on his behalf. The suspicion strengthened when the minister, who was to appear for social sciences paper the next day, did not take the exam.

The Tamil Nadu government ordered an inquiry into the episode and the state crime branch booked the minister on October 8 under various IPC sections, including cheating and forgery. The police also filed cases against two government officials -- the examination hall supervisor P Aadhavan and office assistant M Rajni Kanth -- for connivance.

Even while denying the charges of impersonation against him, Kalyanasundaram went into hiding after the Madras high court dismissed his anticipatory bail plea on November 8. Sources in the AINRC, the breakaway group of the Congress led by Rangasamy, said the minister has decided to approach the Supreme Court seeking anticipatory bail. The Tamil Nadu police has intensified search to nab the minister. A Tindivanam judicial magistrate court has directed the minister to appear for enquiry on November 25.

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