V. Vaithilingam (born 5 October 1950) is an Indian politician belonging to the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

, who currently represents

Puducherry Puducherry or Pondicherry may refer to: * Puducherry (union territory), a union territory of India ** Pondicherry, capital of the union territory of Puducherry ** Puducherry district, a district of the union territory of Puducherry ** Puducherry t ...

in the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past ...

. He held the position as 11th Chief Minister of Pondicherry from 1991 to 1996 and 16th Chief Minister of Puducherry again from 2008 to 2011. He is a senior legislator serving eight consecutive terms. He headed the Pondicherry Government from 1991 to 1996 and the Congress Legislative party from 1991 to 2000. His priorities as Chief Minister were to minimize the budget deficit, increase private sector participation in public transport, and improve the health care system. He first became Chief Minister at the age of 40, making him the second youngest Chief Minister of Puducherry.

Early life

He was born in Cuddalore and was raised in his native home Madukarai,

. 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. The Vaithilingam family is known for their work as

freedom fighter A resistance movement is an organized effort by some portion of the civil population of a country to withstand the legally established government or an occupying power and to disrupt civil order and stability. It may seek to achieve its objectives ...

s against French rule. His paternal grandfather late Vaithilingam Reddiar was the Mayor of

Nettapakkam Nettapakkam is a Village, Commune and Assembly Constituency in the Union Territory of Puducherry, India. It consists of Nettapakkam Enclave and Embalam part of Nettapakkam Commune in the main Enclave of Puducherry. It forms a part of western b ...

commune during the French rule in Puducherry. His father V. Venkatasubha Reddiar was also a Chief Minister of Pondicherry.

Political career

In 1980, at the age of 30, he ran for the Legislative Assembly and lost by a narrow margin of 90 odd votes. In 1985, Vaithilingam was elected become Public Works and Power Minister, which he served until 1990. 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 the private sector. Vaithilingam also benefited from the management of the economy and the liberalization policies followed by Prime Minister

P. V. Narasimha Rao Pamulaparthi Venkata Narasimha Rao (28 June 1921 – 23 December 2004) was an Indian lawyer, statesman and politician who served as the 9th prime minister of India from 1991 to 1996. He is known for introducing various liberal reforms to Indi ...

. In 1996 elections, the

became the single largest party, but their alliance lost the elections and Vaithilingam was appointed the Leader of Opposition until 1999. In 2001, he won from

constituency but was not able to serve as Chief Minister due to being falsely charged with an attempt to corrupt a fellow legislator. He was later acquitted on all charges. During this period, N. Rangaswamy was chosen as Chief Minister and Vaithilingam served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly in his cabinet until 2006. From 2006 to 2008, Vaithilingam served as the Minister of Agriculture and Industries. He was elected Chief Minister in 2008 and he served until 2011. He became Leader of the Opposition in 2011 election and he became Speaker of the House in 2016, and resigned in 2019 after becoming a member of the

Parliament of India The Parliament of India (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. It is a bicameralism, bicameral legislature composed of the president of India and two houses: the R ...

for Puducherry. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections V. Vaithilingam was chosen to represent the

party, and he defeated

All India N.R. Congress All India N.R. Congress (abbr. AINRC) is a regional political party formed by the Chief Minister of Puducherry, N. Rangaswamy in the Indian union territory of Puducherry. He announced the party formation on 7 February 2011 in the party's h ...

candidate Dr. Narayanasamy Kesavan.

Electoral history

Member of the Legislative Assembly A member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to a legislative assembly. Most often, the term refers to a subnational assembly such as that of a state, province, or territory of a country. S ...

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

Comeback

Vaithilingam was falsely charged with an attempt to corrupt a fellow legislator. Although he was found not guilty and 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."Vaithilingam sworn in as Puducherry Chief Minister"
IST, PTI (''Times of India''), 4 September 2008.

Positions held

, - , - , - , -

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaithilingam, V. 1950 births Indian National Congress politicians from Puducherry Chief ministers of Puducherry Living people Leaders of the Opposition in Puducherry People from Cuddalore district Chief ministers from Indian National Congress People from Pondicherry State cabinet ministers of Puducherry Puducherry politicians Speakers of Puducherry Legislative Assembly India MPs 2019–2024 Puducherry MLAs 2016–2021 Puducherry MLAs 1985–1990 Puducherry MLAs 1990–1991 Puducherry MLAs 1991–1996 Puducherry MLAs 1996–2001 Puducherry MLAs 2001–2006 Puducherry MLAs 2006–2011 Puducherry MLAs 2011–2016