Dashing hopes of getting freshness into the cabinet, Kiran Reddy has retained almost all the ministers except for five who were openly supporting Jagan’s efforts in taking the Congress high command head on.
In an apparent effort to save party men from possible poaching by rebel YS Jaganmohan Reddy, the new chief minister of Andhra Pradesh N Kiran Kumar Reddy inducted 39 MLAs, almost all in YSR’s cabinet, into his new cabinet of ministers on Wednesday.
Dashing hopes of getting freshness into the cabinet, Kiran Reddy has retained almost all the ministers except for five who were openly supporting Jagan’s efforts in taking the Congress high command head on. While 29 of the ministers are from the erstwhile YSR cabinet, 10 are inducted afresh.
The portfolios were announced on Wednesday night.
“It’s not going to be easy for the new chief minister to take a cabinet of this size along with him for ever. There is a clear indication of the new CM putting together his cabinet with Jagan as a focus point than the welfare of the state. The new cabinet also suggests that the Jagan factor forced the chief minister to expand the number of ministries to 40, including himself,” a senior Congress leader and a key functionary of the Pradesh Congress Committee told DNA.
Most of the carried-forward ministers had supported Jagan’s candidature to the chief minister’s post immediately after the death of YS Rajasekhara Reddy. Former agriculture minister N Raghuveera Reddy, who is also part of Kiran Reddy’s team now, was vocal in saying that there was no point in being a minister without Jagan being the CM.
In fact, Raghuveera Reddy was refusing to attend the swearing-in ceremony with K Rosaiah as chief minister and it was after YSR’s close aide KVP Ramachandra Rao convincing him that he had taken the oath.
Meanwhile, as expected Jagan’s uncle and YSR’s younger brother YS Vivekananda Reddy, too, has been inducted into the cabinet. Immediately after taking oath at the Raj Bhavan on Wednesday morning, Viveka went to a YSR statue nearby and paid tributes.
Even after putting in place a mega cabinet Kiran Reddy is not relieved of the disgruntlement. JC Diwakar Reddy, a Rayalaseema strongman and former minister, expressed his displeasure subtly. “Ministers are selected by the chief ministers as per his likes and dislikes. I don’t know what was disliked by the CM in me. Still I am not agitated,” he said.
Another Rayalaseema leader and an MLA from Panyam, K Rambhoopal Reddy, criticised the way the cabinet had been put together. “I am one of the senior MLAs. Still I have not been selected for the cabinet. I will take this to the notice of the high command and will decide on my future course after deliberating with my followers,” he said.
All the five ousted ministers — Balineni Srinivas Reddy, P Subhash Chandra Bose, P Ramachandra Reddy, Shilpa Mohan Reddy and Gade Venkat Reddy — were non committal on the new cabinet. However, Bose said he would continue to be in the party as per Jagan’s instructions.
Kiran Reddy, meanwhile, has overhauled the chief minister’s office. He has also informed the employees of the state secretariat that there would be a similar reshuffle even among other employees shortly.
“My priority is to plug the leakages in the system and to ensure that the benefits reach the needy. I am going to be in office for three-and-half years. But, I want to do as much as I would in 10 years,” he informed the employees in a meeting at the secretariat.
Interestingly, Jagan himself remained quiet on the cabinet formation. He is expected to reach Hyderabad from his resort in Idupulapaya in Kadapa on Thursday.
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