N Rangasamy, who ended the reign of his former party Congress in a stunning electoral debut for his outfit, was on Monday sworn in as Chief Minister of Puducherry for a third term. 61-year old Rangasamy, chief of All India NR Congress, was administered oath of office by Lt Governor Iqbal Singh at the Raj Nivas here, making him the 18th Chief Minister of the tiny Union Territory.

No other minister was sworn in along with Rangasamy who had had earlier headed Congress Governments from 2001-06 and 2006-08 when he was unceremoniously removed by the party high command following a revolt by his cabinet colleagues.

Taking a sweet revenge on Congress, Rangasamy, who broke ranks with the party a few months before the polls and floated his own party, which on its own bagged 15 seats. Its ally AIADMK won five seats to give a two-thirds majority to the combine in the 30-member Assembly.

Congress could win only seven seats and its ally DMK two.

Independent MLA VMC Sivakumar, a DMK rebel, has extended his support to AINRC, enabling it command a simple majority of 16 in the assembly.